Srinagar: Former finance minster Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday urged the J&K government to address the issues pertaining to regularization and release of pending wages of daily rated workers of PHE department who are on strike for the last five days in Jammu and Kashmir.
Bukhari also appealed the government to have a holistic and a humanitarian view while dealing with the demands put forth by other agitating unions of daily wagers, causal workers, land donators and ITI workers in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement issued here, Bukhari urged the Lieutenant Governor G.S Murmu to look into the issues pertaining to regularization and release of wages to daily rated workers because their strike has impacted utility services leading to drinking water crisis especially in most of the areas in Jammu and Srinagar districts.
“The matter assumes significance because despite a policy decision taken and the regularization approved by the previous elected governments, the issue is unnecessarily being lingered on, leading to chaotic situation for the people,” Bukhari said.
He said that demands raised by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Health Engineering daily rated workers, ITI trained causal workers, other causal labourers and land donors, needs to be considered by the government on the humanitarian basis.
“I am told that most of these workers are waiting for their pending wages for the last four years. The government must understand the difficulties faced by this important section of our society who have no money to pay fee for their school going children or manage their day-to-day family affairs,” Bukhari observed.
The former finance minister hoped that the Lieutenant Governor and his administrative council would take immediate call on the situation created due to continuous strike of the daily rated workers in Jammu and Kashmir, as a result of which most of the areas are facing severe and erratic drinking water supply.
Expressing hope that the government would take the left over segment of different category of workers for regularization in a time bound manner, Bukhari said the previous elected governments have already conducted thorough deliberations over the matter and had verified the credentials of most of these workers.
“The administration should not draw a sadistic pleasure in the sufferings of the people and try to address these matters on urgent basis so that the general public is not put to an unbearable inconvenience,” he remarked. (KNT)
