All Eyes on Omar Abdullah’s Budget as 60,000 Daily Wagers Await Relief
Hope, anxiety grip thousands as CM tables’ crucial budget in Assembly
Our Special Correspondent
Srinagar: All eyes are on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as he is set to present his government’s budget in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly today, with the fate of nearly 60,000 daily-wage workers ‘hanging in the balance’.
For decades, daily wagers—many of whom have served various government departments for 15 to 25 years—have been demanding regularisation, job security and dignified wages. With the National Conference-led government’s first full-fledged budget under Omar Abdullah, expectations among these workers and their families have reached a fever pitch.
“This budget is not about numbers for us; it is about survival,” said Abdul Rashid, a daily wager from north Kashmir, who has worked with the PHE department for over 18 years.
“We have given our youth to the government. Now we want assurance that our children won’t suffer the same uncertainty,” he said.
Outside the Assembly complex in Jammu and in district headquarters across the Valley and Jammu region, daily wagers have been closely following political signals, hoping for a clear roadmap toward regularisation.
Shamima Begum, whose husband is a daily wager in the irrigation department, said the delay has pushed many families into chronic insecurity. “Every budget comes with promises, but our lives remain stuck. If this government truly stands with workers, this is the moment to prove it,” she said.
Political observers say the issue has become a defining test for the Omar Abdullah government, especially after repeated assurances during election campaigns and post-poll statements that the concerns of daily wagers would be addressed in a “humane and time-bound manner.”
Another daily wager, Ramesh Kumar from Jammu, echoed similar sentiments. “We don’t want charity. We want recognition for our work. Regularisation will give us dignity, pension, and a future,” he said.
While official sources remain tight-lipped ahead of the budget speech, the daily wager community is expecting either a concrete regularisation policy or a phased financial and service-security framework to be announced on the floor of the House.
As Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rises to present the budget today, thousands of families across Jammu and Kashmir will be listening—not just for allocations and figures, but for words that could finally turn years of struggle into long-awaited relief.
