Soon after a statewide agitation launched by the public health and engineering (PHE) department daily earners, over 3,000 need-based and casual workers of the power development department (PDD) have threatened to suspend work across Jammu division over the denial of wages for the last three years.

A majority of linesmen and meter readers on Wednesday appealed to the state administration headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik to end years of discrimination with them.

The workers led by Akhil Sharma, president, All J&K Need Based Workers’ Union, staged a protest outside the office of the PDD chief engineer.

“Nearly 7,500 workers in Kashmir province are being provided regular salaries, but the authorities have cited fund shortage as a reason for the delay in payment to as many as 3,405 workers in the Jammu region. We appeal to the Governor to consider our issue on humanitarian grounds,” Sharma said.

The protesters claimed that a majority of the workers had been exploited for years by the successive governments, who had only given hollow promises of starting the regularisation process and regular payment of wages.

“Our families are suffering due to the exploitative policy pursued by the governments for decades. We are not even able to provide basic amenities to our children. It’s a daily struggle to even buy food for our children,” said Sham Sharma, a worker.

The issue was first initiated in 2009 during the NC-Congress government when the state Cabinet had approved the mechanism for regularisation. It had directed the department to furnish details about the workers, so that financial and legal issues could be sorted. But the issue got dragged for years.

Courtesy: The Tribune,Dec 06,2018