STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Inviting the attention of the Chief Minister Mehbooba mufti towards the pathetic plight of daily rated, consolidated and contractual employees working in various State Government departments, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, on Monday appealed her to personally address the genuine concerns of such marginalized sections of employees.
He said that thousands of educated youth had been engaged in various government departments as DRWs, Casual, need based, contractual, academic arrangement and consolidated basis on negligible wages which too had remained unpaid for months and years.
Making a particular mention of some of the said categories, he regretted that DRWs and other non regularized employees of PHE, PWD, M&RE, Health, Tourism, TDAs, Education, Forests Departments etc were agitating for redressal of their grievances since long but the concerned authorities had failed to respond despite repeated assurances. He flayed in particular the non release of their wages for period ranging from 18 to 24 months thus forcing their families to starvation. He strongly condemned in particular the disregard and failure of the concerned to release the emoluments of the said categories of employees on Diwali eve thus creating huge resentment among them.
Appealing the Chief Minister to personally intervene for ameliorating the lot of these deprived categories of employees , Singh sought timely release of their wages with immediate steps for regularization of their services and enhancement of emoluments in consonance with the doctrine of ‘Equal pay for equal work’ propounded by the apex court of the country
Decrying the payment of lesser wages to contractual against their regular counterparts, Singh said that the government policy was not only discriminatory but also violative of constitutional guarantees. He said that even the Supreme Court in its latest judgment 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 lakhs of family members were dependent upon such employees who numbered more than a hundred thousand.
