Casual labourers march:Scores injured in police action

5 Dariya News (Yawar Shafi)

Srinagar 03-Sep-2014

Scores of casual labourers sustained injuries after police swung into action and charged them with canes when the protesting employees managed to reach at the main gate of Civil Secretariat Srinagar on Wednesday.Reports said that amid heavy showers, casual labourers and need based workers of various government departments staged a massive protest in support of their demands including regularization and release of pending wages.Scores of casual laborers of different department assembled at Exhibition Crossing and shouted slogans against state government for not conceding their long pending demands. The protestors including Casual labourers of PWD, Floriculture, PHE, Forest, Wild Life, Soil Conservation, SDA, Tourism and Agriculture Department demonstrated under the banner of J&K National Trade Union Front(JKNTUF) and marched towards Civil Secretariat Srinagar.

As the protesting employees reached at the entrance of Civil Secretariat, large contingent policemen appeared and charged the employees with canes. In a bid to disperse the defiant employees, police sprayed coloured water. The confrontation between police and employees affected traffic movement resulted in traffic jam.Eyewitnesses told CNS that at least 12 casual labours were injured during police action. Some of the injured were identified as Muhammad Yousuf, Zahoor Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed, Khurshid Ahmed, Firdous Ahmed, Mushtaq Ahmed and Abdul Rasheed.

Shortly before proceeding towards Civil Secretariat, while addressing the workers, JKNTUF  president Muhammad Gafoor Dar condemned the delaying polices of the State Government regarding regularization and payment of pending wages of these causal labourers.  He threatened that JKNTUF would launch a massive agitation if the demands of these workers would not be conceded at earliest.The casual labourers from SKIMS, Horticulture department also staged a protest at Press Enclave Srinagar in favour of their demands and urged upon the government to regularize them at an earliest. (CNS)