CM Abdullah urges daily wagers to end strike, BJP MLAs walk out from assembly over issue

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday appealed to daily wage workers to end their strike which has triggered a water crisis in the Union territory, and urged them to raise their grievances with the panel set up to address them.

Seeking talks between the government and the protesters, BJP MLAs walked out from the J&K Assembly after a half-hour-long ruckus over the issue, with opposition and treasury benches trading charges against each other.

Scores of Jal Shakti (PHE) department workers and daily wagers were baton-charged by police during protests on Friday, Saturday and Monday and detained in Jammu as they marched towards the assembly, the CM’s residence, and the civil secretariat, demanding the release of their wages and regularisation.

The daily wagers have been on strike for the last four days.

As the Question Hour concluded in the assembly on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Sunil Sharma brought up the issue, demanding that the government holds talks with the daily workers employed by the government and end the strike.

“Since yesterday, I have been raising the issue of the daily wagers’ strike and the water crisis caused by it. But the government has failed to respond. The government seems to be behaving in an arrogant manner,” Sharma said.

This triggered a visible angry response from the treasury benches, prompting a counter from the opposition, most of whom stood up in reaction.

National Conference MLAs also resorted to slogans against the BJP, accusing them of failing to resolve the issue during “their 10-year rule” — referring to the PDP-BJP coalition government and the President’s rule that was imposed after the BJP withdrew support.

Central rule continued after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh — in 2019. The National Conference and its allies formed the government in October 2024 after assembly polls were held again in the Union territory of J&K.

Amid noisy scenes in the assembly during Tuesday’s proceedings, Bills were introduced and passed by the chief minister.

Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather tried to bring order to the House but the verbal duels continued.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said the Omar Abdullah government was serious about resolving the daily wagers’ grievances and that a committee had been formed for this purpose.

The BJP, he said, failed to resolve the issue in the past 10 years.

Angered by this, BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma asserted that matters concerning the Lieutenant Governor cannot be discussed in the House as per rules. The LG administration handled affairs of the UT after J&K’s bifurcation.

Congress and PDP MLAs remained mostly silent during the back and forth between the BJP and the NC.

The speaker then announced that the CM would make a statement on the issue, “The House is in action today. It was peaceful until now. If we were not interested in resolving their issue, we would not have formed the committee. We are surprised that protests are taking place even after the committee’s formation,” he told the House.

Speaking in the House, Abdullah said he would look into the reasons behind the protests. “You are admitting that there was injustice against them, which means you accept that nothing was done for them in the last 10 years. We have taken the lead to resolve it,” he said.

The CM took a dig at BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma, telling him that as a minister in the previous government, he was aware of the steps taken to resolve the issue.

“A committee has been formed under the chief secretary. I want to request the daily wagers to call off their strike and talk to the committee. Once the recommendations come, we will implement them,” Abdullah said.

Earlier on Thursday, the CM said a panel has been formed to address the issue of regularisation of daily wagers in the Union Territory, which will submit its recommendations to the government in six months.

After around 30 minutes of disruption in the proceedings, BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the House. (PTI)