Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar/Jammu, July 8: At least a dozen State employees were injured and over 150 arrested after the police foiled their protest march towards Civil Secretariat in Srinagar today while work remained paralysed in many Government and Public Sector Undertakings offices across the State today.
The routine work in Government and PSU offices across the State remained affected today in response to one-day pen-down strike given by JCC to press for implementation of the agreement reached between them and the Government in 2011.
Government offices in the summer capital of the State and other parts of the Valley registered a thin attendance with most of the employees staying away from work.
The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of several employees unions, termed the strike as “historical” in their agitation.
The agitating employees are demanding extension of retirement age from 58 to 60 years, regularization of daily wagers and consolidated workers and removal of pay anomalies and budgetary support to the Public Sector Undertakings.
Early today, hundreds of Government employees of various departments assembled near Khalsa Public School to march towards Civil Secretariat. Police charged batons and used water canons on them to foil their march.
The protesting employees shouted anti-Government slogans and accused it of unnecessarily delaying the implementation of the agreement in which the former agreed that it would fulfill genuine demands of the employees by September 30, 2012. “The Government, however, didn’t abide by the agreement,” said A Q Wani, senior JCC leader.
Wani condemned the police action on the agitating employees. “Police has been brutally using force on us time and again. Today, at least a dozen employees were injured, among them four were hospitalized and one employee, Nazir Ahmad, was rushed to Bone and Joints hospital,” he said, adding, that 150 employees were detained and lodged in different Police Stations of the city.
In Jammu, a large number of employees from various PSUs and Government departments under the leadership of Gafoor Dar, Kulwant Singh, Rajinder Kumar and others assembled at Panama Chowk in the morning around 9 am and moved in the form of rally towards Divisional Commissioner’s office at Rail Head complex. The employees from Nirman Bhawan, Udhyog Bhawan, JKPCC complex, JDA, ITI, PHE, PDD, Education, Sheep Husbandry, Health, Excise & Sales Tax, Sports and other departments struck work in their respective offices and held massive protest demonstration. They were raising slogans in support of their pending demands and also against the Omar led Government.
Mr Dar, Amrik Singh, Kulwant Singh, Moulvi Muneer Ahmed, Hari Singh, Rajesh Khajuria, Darshan Singh, Nazir Ahmed Moulvi, Jagdish Singh and others addressed the gathering and condemned the Government for causing delay in addressing the pending issues of the employees. They said that employees were being forced to come out on the roads by the Government. In many other offices in other nine districts in the region, the employees in many offices struck work and observed Kaam Chhor Hartal. But in some of the offices the work continued but the strength was thin in the offices. As compared to Kashmir the impact of strike was less in Jammu region today. The work in emergency units of the hospitals besides wards went on smoothly. In many hospitals OPDs and OTs functioned normally.
Reports from various districts including Kathua, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur, Samba and Reasi said that JCC strike witnessed mixed response. While in many offices the work was going on smoothly in others, the attendance of workers was very thin. Mostly senior officers were seen present in the offices. The employees also held protest dharnas and demonstrations at their respective offices.
Meanwhile, EJAC (Q) leader said the next programme would be toughest ever which will jolt the Government. “Enough time was given to the Government to address our issues. The insensitive Government is compelling five lakh employees for indefinite strike. We are pleading the Government to implement the agreement, else we will launch an intense, indefinite strike that will be decided by JCC leadership on July 15,” Wani said.
JCC leaders said today’s strike was more powerful as the employee union of Civil Secretariat also supported their strike call.
Non-Gazetted Civil Secretariat Employees Union, for the first time after joining the JCC amalgam, completely suspended their work today in response to the pen-down strike of the employees and protested against the Government in the Secretariat premises. The union also condemned the police action on the agitating employees.
Talking to reporters, President NGCSEU Rouf Ahmad Bhat said the secretariat employees condemn the use of police force on the agitating employees.
“The use of force by police will not deter us from raising our genuine demands. We will utilise every democratic method to press for our rights,” Bhat said. Sources in the secretariat also corroborated the union’s statement of suspending work in secretariat.
“No official work was carried out in the Secretariat today as no official came to his office. Even legislators and ministers also remained away from their offices as no employee was present to assist them. Few ministers- Nawang Rigzin Jora, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Mian Altaf came in the morning, but left after few minutes as no employee was on the job,” sources said.
Meanwhile, Communist Party leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami slammed the “non serious” approach adopted by the State Government to fulfill long pending demands of the government employees, saying the agreement reached between the Government and the employee unions should be implemented in letter and spirit.
Condemning police action against the protesting employees, Tarigami in a statement said the authorities have become habitual of dispersing the agitating employees with the use of disproportionate force, and has unfortunately become a precedent now.
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