Srinagar, Sep 22: Casual and daily-wage workers on Tuesday announced that they will gherao the Assembly on September 28 to press for their long pending demands including regularisation, wage enhancement and pension benefits.
Daily wagers staged a protest at Polo View Park here today.
The protest was held under the banner of the Jammu and Kashmir Casual/Daily Wagers Forum (JKCDF) and was led by its president Sajad Ahmed Parray.
The proposed Assembly gherao comes amid the ongoing session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, where the government informed the House that 1,00,501 casual and other daily-rated workers have been registered through Aadhaar-based biometric identification and skill profiling.
The government has also said that a committee constituted in March 2025 is examining the legal, financial and humanitarian aspects of regularisation of such workers.
Addressing the protesters, Parray questioned the delay in addressing their demands and sought equal treatment on wages and pension benefits. “If your committee’s report can come, then why can’t our committee’s report come? If you are entitled to old pensions, then why are we not entitled to old pensions?” Parray said.
“If your salary can increase from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, then why is there no increase in the salary of a casual daily wager who is suffering in this time of inflation?” he asked.
Parray also questioned the silence of MLAs, civil society and various organisations over the workers’ issues and appealed to them to join the September 28 programme.
“What great crime are you punishing us for? What crime have we committed?” he asked, adding that the workers had served the government and people during floods and COVID-19.
He urged the workers to participate in the September 28 programme and called upon officers not to suppress their voice.
The protesting workers further said they would continue their peaceful agitation and press for early resolution of their long-pending demands—(KNO)
