Jammu: Teachers, government staff protest over pending salaries

Government teachers and workers of Public Health Engineering (PHE) and Power Development Department (PDD) Monday staged separate protests over their demands, including the release of pending salaries, officials said.

Hundreds of striking PHE workers took out a rally from chief engineer's office on BC Road to the civil secretariat, but were stopped by police midway, the officials said.

They were shouting slogans in support of their demands, including the release of pending salaries and regularisation of their services.

"We are on strike since September 7 and were assured by the governor-led administration that our genuine demands would be met. The government is preparing the budget and we have come out on the road to remind the government of its promise," a spokesperson of the protesting workers said.

He threatened to intensify the agitation if they were ignored in the budget. "We will stop water supply and will sit on the roads," he said.

On the other side, an agitating group of teachers assembled under the banner of Rahbar-e-Taleem Teachers Forum at Exhibition Ground and charged the government of going back on its promise of releasing their salaries under the seventh pay commission.

"We ended our strike after the governor-led administration assured that we will get salaries under seventh pay commission. Instead, they have not released our salaries for the past four months," state convener of the forum, Neena, said.

She demanded the immediate release of salaries as per the seventh pay commission, de-linking of salaries from the Ministry of Human Resources, regularisation of services and time-bound promotion.

PDD need-based and casual labourers also held a protest at press enclave over pending salaries, adequate compensation to those who lost their limbs while repairing power supply lines and regularisation of services.

"The government is finalising the budget for PDD next week and we want Governor Satya Pal Malik to take note of our plight and fulfil our demands," Akhil Sharma, who was leading the protest, said.

Referring to one of the protesters who had lost both his arms in an accident at work, Sharma alleged that the department is not paying any attention for their rehabilitation and "we want the government to come out with a policy to help them live a dignified life".

(With inputs from agencies.)