Kupwara: Contingent paid workers and cooks in education department staged a protest demonstration here in this north Kashmir district, seeking wage hike, regularization.
Hundreds of contingent paid workers from different parts of this district assembled in the premises of Dak-bungalow Kupwara on Sunday and staged protest demonstration.
The Workers alleged government of neglecting the workers working since decades.
The Workers including sweepers, chowkidars, cooks and others working in different institutions of frontier district Kupwara were part of the protesters.
“We are being paid Rs 25 to 100 per month,” said some of the sweepers, chowkidar and others working in education department since last ten to twenty five years.
“We are land donors, we have donated about 70 to 80% of the land to the school institutions on that bases we were hired by the education department for different not teaching works,” Altaf Ahmad Bhat, one of the protester said.
In 2016 unrest, they said they worked for 24 hours in the institutions. “All the contingent workers were forced to attend night shifts” Altaf said.
District President contingent workers Abdul Gani Malik said that contingent workers have sacrificed their lives for the education department but government was turning deaf ear to their genuine demands.
“We urge Minster for education and government to intervene and fulfill our long pending demands,” he said, adding, “If our demands were not fulfilled till April 1, we will lock down all the schools in district Kupwara and will march towards Direction Office.”
