STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Police on Saturday foiled the protest rally of voluntary retired employees of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC), concerning their long pending demands.
Amid slogans, VRS employees under the leadership of Dev Raj Bali, President, VRS Union assembled at Exhibition Ground and started marching towards Dogra Chowk but were stopped by the heavy deployment of police near Press Club.
The protestors raised slogans against the government and SRTC management for their adamant attitude towards them.
Addressing the gathering, Dev Raj Bali said that the SRTC management and the government are not clearing their dues for which they have been struggling.
He added 126 slabs of COLA were given to in-service and latest retired employees of the SRTC from 1st January, 2006 but the same was not paid to 670 VRS employees.
He strongly criticised the attitude of the State Government for not implementing the Sixth Pay Commission in the State whereas the Central Government has ordered for the Seventh Pay Commission implementation.
They also demanded release of pending Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) with effect from 1999, Sixth Pay Commission arrears with effect from 1st January, 2006 and pension benefits.
He also appealed to the State Government to give compensation to the bereaved families of 14 VRS employees under SRO-43 so that justice be done with them.
Balwinder Singh, Surinder Singh, B.B Sharma, Kulbir Singh, Dwarka Nath, Gulshan Singh and J.D Singh were also present.
