STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Congress lawmaker G.M Saroori on Tuesday said that it is unfortunate that the government is least concerned about addressing the genuine issues of 62,000 workers. “For them, Diwali, Holi, Eid and all other festivals hold no meaning as they do not have money to celebrate the occasions. They have been denied salary on one or the other pretext,” added Saroori.
Meanwhile, in a written reply to a question posed by Saroori, the State Finance ministry stated that 61,446 casual/seasonal /need-based employees were engaged in as many as 31 government departments.
The reply also stated that at present wage rate of such workers is Rs 150 per day however in some departments, the need-based and part-time workers were being paid consolidated wages at varying rates.
The matter has been one of the major concerns for the successive governments as scores of such employees time and again are seen protesting either for not being paid for months, or demanding their regularisation.
When questioned what steps were being taken for permanent absorption of this huge workforce, the reply stated, “To address the issue of regularisation in respect of Need-Based and Casual Labourers (CLs), a committee has been constituted in pursuance to State Administrative Council decision, to look into the extent/magnitude of problems relating to casual workers that may arise in regularization of such employees and to work out an appropriate policy outlining all possible options in this regard.”