Forget daily-wagers, JK Govt 'withholds' salary of permanent UEED staff

Corruption, negligence of higher officials costing us dearly, allege aggrieved employees

Corruption, negligence of higher officials costing us dearly, allege aggrieved employees

 

Srinagar, Dec 8 (KNS): Scores of permanent employees of Urban Environmental Engineering Department (UEED), Kashmir division are up in arms against the government for "unnecessarily withholding" their salary from the last three months.

In a statement issued to news agency-kashmir news service(KNS), “Forget daily rated workers, we are witnessing the worst times under current dispensation,” a group of engineering staff and other low-rung employees, said.

“Government has withheld our salary from the last three months in these testing times. Every time, we talk about it to our higher ups, they blame the finance department,” they alleged.

The UEED staffers alleged that amid the COVID-19 crisis, the department is not releasing salaries despite many reminders to them.

“We have been working 24×7 in harsh conditions under the ongoing pandemic and being classified under essential services category. Still we are being treated as second class citizens,” they alleged.

They said that all the employees falling under New Pension Scheme (NPS) category including Class-IV employees and helpers were also facing immense hardships due to non-payment of wages

“We NPS employees are being given step motherly treatment time and again as other employees in UEED Kashmir are getting their monthly salary on time,” they said.

“The people at the helm of affairs pay no attention toward our miseries. The authorities in the department are only giving excuses that NPS funds are not available and push us to the wall. We suffer and run from pillar to post.”

Another group of aggrieved UEED employees said that “salary is our legitimate right and they are denying us the same due to their own negligence and callousness and nobody in the department is willing to resolve the issue as if we don’t come under the category of employees.”

The aggrieved employees have appealed to the higher authorities in the Department of Finance and Housing and Urban Development Department to look into the matter on priority.

“We now humbly appeal to the higher authorities to get our issues resolved at an earliest so that we can feed our families properly,” said the unpaid employees.

“Unfortunately corruption, negligence of higher officials is costing us dearly,” allege the aggrieved employees

It may be recalled that a majority of the daily rated workers in Jammu and Kashmir have been time and again protesting for years to demand regular salaries and regularisation of their jobs as had been promised to them by the previous state governments.

The major demands of the workers include regularisation of their jobs as per SRO-64, payment of monthly wages to all workers, release of pending wages and wages as per the Central government norms.

Pertinently, for years, the daily rated workers have been denied wages and the regularisation process is going on at a snail’s pace. “It is a violation of rules and the fundamental rights of workers,” said an employee, wishing not to be named.

Principal Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta told Presspact that he would look into the matter. “This isn’t in my knowledge. I will look into this and get back,” Gupta said (KNS). 

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