The Jammu and Kashmir Casual and Daily Wagers’ Forum (JKCDF) today started an indefinite hunger strike against the failure of the government to address their long-pending demands here.
The protesters, led by JKCDF Chairman Sajad Parray, started the strike at Pratap Park in city centre and said they would continue with their stir till their demands were not met.
“We were forced to sit on an indefinite strike as the successive governments have only given us false assurances. When the PDP was in the opposition, their leaders would express solidarity with us during our protests. But after coming to power, they too cold-shouldered us,” Parray said.
He said they would not call off their stir till their demands were met. Their demands included regularisation of casual and daily wagers working in various government departments and release of pending remunerations.
Parray said around 60,000 daily and casual workers were seeking regularisation of their services for the past many years. He said some of those workers, employed since 1994, too were waiting for the regularisation of their services.
The protestors even offered Friday prayers in congregation at Pratap Park and MLA Langate Engineer Rashid too visited the venue to express their solidarity with them.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Youth Corps Association (AJKNYCA) too has been observing a hunger strike at Pratap Park for the past 32 days. The association is demanding recruitment of 6,000 NYC youth in the school education department against the vacancies created in newly 800 upgraded schools of the state.
