135 farm labourers disengaged by CITH

RTI Movement demands rollback of order

RTI Movement demands rollback of order

Srinagar Feb 1:(KNS)  Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement has demanded rollback of the order issued by Director Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) Srinagar wherein around 135 farm labourers working as daily wagers for more than 12 years have been shown the door and disengaged. The agitated workers held a protest along with Chairman RTI Movement Dr Raja Muzaffar outside the main campus of CITH at Kralpora Rangreth on Tuesday.

“ Around 165 persons are working on contract basis in the CITH farm at Kralpora Rangreth for the last 10 to 20 years. Most of them work as farm labourers and some as security guards. More than a dozen are experts in horticulture activities who have set up ultra high density apple , pear , peach , walnut and almond plantations in the area. The state land belonging to villages of Kralpora and Wathoora was provided by JK Govt in 1994 to Ministry of Agriculture Govt of India (ICAR) and today the locals from these villages and other areas who work on mere Rs 300 to 400 / day are being thrown out by the CITH. This is complete injustice” said Dr Raja Muzaffar  

The Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture -CITH under auspices of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was started in 1994 as a premier institute with its headquarter at Srinagar and Regional Station at Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand. The institute is mandated for carrying out basic, strategic and applied research on major temperate horticultural crops besides serving as a centre for national repository of germplasm & scientific information.

CIPM leader M Y Tarigami, former Minister and NC leader Aga Ruhullah also criticized the action of CITH against farm labourers. They have also asked the Director to rollback the said order.(KNS) 

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