Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 10: Around a dozen employees of Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department were injured this afternoon here when Police foiled their protest march in support of their demands, including regularisation of daily-wage and casual workers.
Hundreds of employees of PHE Department assembled near Partap Park here and tried to march towards the Chief Engineer’s office, but were stopped by police who asked them to disperse.
The employees insisted on going ahead with the protest, following which police used batons to disperse them. The protesting employees were severely beaten up by police.
Around 2 dozen protestors, including some of their leaders, were taken into preventive custody. The protest resulted in traffic jam on the Residency Road.
The protest call was given by Kashmir PHE Joint Employees Association in support of its demands for regularisation of daily-wage workers, casual labourers and need-based workers. They also demanded that their pending salaries be released and paid regularly.
Chairman, All Kashmir PHE Casual Laborers Association, Sajad Ahmad Parray said that despite working as daily-wagers for the department from more than last 15 years, the Government has failed to regularize these employees. “We have become the victims of present Coalition Government but we will not stop fighting for our genuine rights till promises made with us are not fulfilled with full dignity,” Sajad said.