STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Supporting the cause of the striking MGNREGA employees working on contractual basis for the last around 10 years since the launch of the flagship scheme in 2007-08 in the State, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, on Monday called upon the government to evolve a suitable job policy commensurate with its oft repeated slogans and thereby assuring them job security and sustainable livelihood. He said that thousands of highly qualified youth had been engaged under the MG-NREGA scheme by the Rural Development Deptt as Programme Officers, Technical Assistants, GRS, MIS Operators, Accounts Assistants, Social Auditors and Adm Assistants on consolidated basis since the launch of the scheme without revising their salaries or framing any policy with respect to their regularisation.
He said that such employees were made to work like bonded labourers on negligible honorarium despite repeated government assurances of pay parity with their counterparts in the regular establishments.
Harsh, who was invited to the venue of protest by the agitating MGNREGA employees, addressed the gathering and assured all possible support for their genuine issues.
Expressing anguish over the exploitation of the young fraternity in the State, Singh said thousands of youth had fled to other states for jobs and several thousands of under-employed as casual and need based workers in various departments besides ReTs, NHM and Anganwari workers having been made to languish in open with no wages to them for several months.
Similarly, the contractual lecturers working in the educational institutions since 5-15 years with the hope of getting regularised were paid peanut salaries and several of them had been ruthlessly terminated by the government after exploiting their services for more than a decade, he added.
Dismayed over criminal apathy of the government towards the protesting youth including such MGNREGA employees, Singh wondered that what kind of justice the alliance was doling to the youth where the anti-nationals were given compensation and employment while the educated youth were pushed towards starvation and other miseries. He further lampooned the Rural Dev Deptt Minister for his arrogant and contemptuous remarks against the employees of his own Deptt by dismissing their demands and commenting that he would get the MGNREGA works executed through the regular employees of the Deptt.
He regretted that rather than exploring ways and means for redressal of the genuine grievances of such employees, the minister concerned had used threatening language thereby creating huge unrest and resentment amongst such highly qualified youth. He vociferously asserted that the educated youth with adequate qualifications deserved the government jobs and suitable regularisation policy which was the prime responsibility of a welfare State.
Decrying the payment of lesser wages to MGNREGA employees against their regular counterparts, Singh said that the govt policy was not only discriminatory but also violative of constitutional guarantees.
He said that even the Supreme Court in its latest judgement delivered last week has observed that denying equal pay for equal work to temporary employees was oppressive, suppressive and coercive as it compelled involuntary subjugation.
Seeking early redressal of grievances of the said categories of employees, Singh made a fervent appeal to the chief minister to address the issue on priority as lakh of family members were dependent upon such employees for sustenance and livelihood.
