PHE daily wagers defer strike over festivals, CM’s appeal
Jammu, Mar 27 (PTI) The Public Health Engineering (PHE) daily wagers have deferred their ongoing strike for 10 days following an appeal by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and considering the upcoming Eid and Navratri festivals.
“Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had appealed in the Assembly for the employees to end the strike as it is causing inconvenience to the people. Keeping in mind the upcoming Eid and Navratri, we have decided to defer our strike for 10 days,” said Ravi Hans, leader of PHE Employees United Front, which has been spearheading the protest for the last seven days.
However, he clarified, “If our demands are not met, we will be back on the streets on April 7.”
This decision to defer the strike also follows a meeting between PHE Minister Javed Rana and protesters. In the meeting, the minister agreed to release the pending wages, one of the demands of the daily wagers, in a phased manner.
The PHE daily wagers have four major demands — regularisation, release of pending wages, an increase in minimum wages and compensation for those who retired at 60.
Abdullah, while responding in the Assembly on Tuesday, appealed to daily wagers to end their strike, which has triggered a water crisis in the Union Territory, and urged them to raise their grievances with the panel set up to address them.
