Police foils PHE-workers' march to civil secretariat in Jammu

The police scuttled an attempt to gherao the Jammu and Kashmir secretariat here Monday by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department workers, whose demands include the release of pending wages and regularisation of their services, officials said.

Hundreds of workers took out a rally from their headquarters at B C Road and marched towards the civil secretariat, officials said.

However, the policemen deployed near Indira Chowk did not allow the protesters to move ahead, following which they staged a sit-in and blocked the main road, leading to a traffic jam.

Later, a delegation of the protesters was allowed inside the secretariat to meet the officers concerned, the officials said.

The provincial president of the PHE workers' association, Tanvir Hussain, threatened to intensify the agitation if the issue was not resolved at the earliest.

"We will not budge and will continue with our protest till our demands are met as our families are suffering due to failure of the authorities to release our pending salaries and ensure monthly payments," Hussain said.

"The state government is only giving us assurances, leaving us with no option but to come on the roads time and again," he said.

The workers had gone on indefinite strike on September 7, but resumed work after the authorities assured that their genuine demands would be met, Hussain said, adding that nothing such had happened so far. PTI TAS AD

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