STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Anguished over the State Government for deferring the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for government employees, a strong contingent of Panthers Party activists spearheaded by Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP, Yash Pal Kundal State President Young Panthers and other leaders staged a massive protest seeking immediate hike in the salary of the working class at Exhibition Ground on Wednesday.
Harsh, while speaking to the media, lambasted the State Government for postponing the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for the government employees for another two years.
He said that the State dispensation divesting the employees of their long awaited salary benefits under the pretext of-fiscal liabilities was highly reprobate and discriminatory adding that the Coalition Government in the State was least bothered about the welfare of the employees which had also failed to regularise the services of more than 60,000 casual employees who had been languishing and protesting in open for their demands since long.
Singh deplored the ‘selfish’ attitude of the State Government and wondered that how could both Houses of the State legislature pass the Bill for doubling the salaries and allowances of the legislators from present Rs. 80,000 per month to Rs. 1,60,000 per month (both MLAs and MLCs) besides increase in salaries of Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State when its own people who mandated BJP-PDP to power were left to suffer in lurch.
He further lampooned the State Government and BJP in particular whether this was the vision of the Saffron party’s tall claims of ‘Achey Din’ for the public which it would advocate openly during elections campaigns.
Harsh divulged that the people of Jammu region had voted BJP to power but unfortunately none of the Saffron Party’s MLAs could rake-up the genuine issues of the people in the Assembly which had immensely dented the pride and honour of the electorate of Jammu region.
He said that while giving a nod to the Bill pertaining to doubling their salaries, the BJP legislators ruthlessly jettisoned the sensitive issues of casual workers viz-viz regularisation of services of daily wagers and contractual employees working in various government departments, regularisation of services and release of salaries of ReT teachers, temporary teachers, academie arrangements working in government schools, colleges and polytechnics, regularisation of SPOs, NYC volunteers, Anganwari/ ASHA, NRHM workers and other lower rung employees.
He said that the BJP had pusillanimously surrendered its conscience before its ally for the greed of power.
Singh demanded immediate implementation of the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission for the State Government employees at par with the Central Government employees and exhorted the State dispensation to devise a mechanism to regularise the services of the aforesaid employees at the earliest to liberate them from the clutches of starvation and other miseries.
Flaying the political imbecility of the BJP, Kundal said that the criminal silence and utter failure of the BJP had unveiled its incompetent, perfidious and servile character for which it would pay a heavy price in the coming days.