For thousands of daily wagers who have been waiting for regularisation for the last two decades the recently presented State Budget must have come as a big breather. Even at the fag-end of life the government decision for some of them would be hardly a reason for cheer. The much talked ‘New Recruitment Policy 2015′ announced by the government on 1st July even faced the rejection from the Governor’s Office and asked the government to review it and make it more people friendly. Not only the Governor’s Office, even the policy was greeted with series of protests, from various sections of the society. But finally, after many meetings, the ‘New Recruitment Policy 2015’ was implemented. The fast track recruitment was targeted to fill 7,500 jobs at initial level. Even as the government was contemplating privatising the power sector in the State, the fate of more than 8,000 daily rated workers at that time as well as today hangs in the balance. Over 8,000 daily rated workers have been working in the Power Development Department (PDD) for the past 20 years with meager salaries for over 20 years, but their services have not been regularised so far. Under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (RAPD and RP), Rs 1,700 crore was released by the Central Government to strengthen the sub-transmission distribution system in 30 towns of the State with a population of 10,000 and above. There are speculations that the government is planning to sack all daily wagers working in the PDD as their services will no more be needed after the department work is privatised. The privatisation of the PDD was initiated by the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference-Congress government. The PDD has already registered a State transmission company, two distribution companies (one each for Kashmir and Jammu regions) and Tradeco (holding company) under the Companies Act, 1956, to deal with consumers and transmission. In 2011-12, the then State Government had started the process by engaging Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an international consultancy firm, for restructuring the department, including unbundling and corporatisation. The project did not go beyond the planning stage. Well one can imagine the fate of daily-wagers, also.
