Srinagar: Dozens of causal labourers and daily wagers of the public health engineering (PHE) department along with their children staged a strong protest here in this capital city on Tuesday over the delay in releasing their long pending salaries.
Reports reaching news gathering agency Global News Service said that nearly a hundred causal labourers joined by their children converged at Pratap Park in the heart of this capital here this morning and staged a demonstration against the PHE department.
The children of the protesting PHE daily wagers were carrying placards that read “Governor Sahab, is it a sin to be a child of a casual labourer?” Governor Sahab, I don’t have school fee because I am PHE casual labourer’s child,”
President, Kashmir PHE Joint Employee s Association, Sajad Ahmad Parray told GNS that the government was resorting to dilly delaying tactics in releasing the long pending wages of daily wagers and the casual labourers.
“We have been deprived of our hard earned salaries from the last 21 months. All the employees are suffering because they have no money left to fend their families of to buy medicines for their ailing members,” Parray said.
“It is an irony that instead of schools, our children have to join is in a protest. As if we and our families have committed a sin by serving the department,” he added.
Apart from the release of pending wages amounting over Rs 100 crores, Parray also demanded implementation of SRO-520, promised by the former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu.
“We will stop every drop of water if our demands are not met. And the responsibility of our actions will lie on government,” he said. (GNS)
