J-K public transport employees protest, clash with police
Srinagar:Thousands of Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) employees on Tuesday afternoon took to
streets in Srinagar and staged an anti-Government demonstrations demanding immediate disbursal of their long pending their salaries. The employees along with their
families had assembled at Jehangir chowk in Srinagar to proceed towards the civil
secretariat, but were stopped by the police, officials said. According to reports,
several people were injured, some of them critically, when the police had to resort
to baton charge and use water canons to disperse the employees. The protesters
alleged that Jammu and Kashmir Government was not taking any note of their demands.
"We want the government to take any action on our demands, Omar (Omar Abdullah,
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir ) is not serious about us. Our kids were kicked
off from schools and he (Omar) didn't even realize this, this happened last year
also and we were starving, but nothing has happened," said Usra Jan, a protester.
"At least they (state officials) should consider about us, about our department
and you can see what is happening here," Jan added. Earlier, over 4,50,000 employees
had observed a two-day pen down strike to press for their demands. The demands
include enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, regularisation of contractual,
ad-hoc and casual workers as per the merit, amendment in the Wage Act including
increase in wages of the daily wagers and casual labourers from current Rs.2,100
monthly to Rs.5,000.
