SRINAGAR: Over two months after they expressed their unwillingness to carry out duties in the Valley, the migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees recruited under PM’s job package continue to keep away from work.
The staffers have been demanding relocation to Jammu since May 12, when a Kashmiri Pandit employee was killed by militants inside a government office.
A Kashmiri Pandit employee said they have completed 67 days of protest on Tuesday. The employees, he said, have been staging protests in the transit accommodations in the Valley, besides Jammu.
About 5,500 staffers have been urging the government to move them to Jammu till the security situation improves in Kashmir.
They have been citing danger to their life after a Pandit employee, Rahul Bhat, was shot dead by militants inside the Tehsildar’s office at Chadoora in Budgam district.
“Our only demand is that we are attached with the Relief department and relocated to Jammu till the situation improves in the Valley. We don’t think that the security situation is fine, and feel that we are caged here,” the Pandit employee said, adding that their children’s education has been hit as they have not been going to school for over two months.
The employees have rejected the government’s decision to shift them to district and tehsil headquarters within the Valley.
They are sticking to their demand for relocation to Jammu for at least three years till the security situation improves in the Valley.
Another Pandit employee, Ranjan Kumar, said in a bid to force them to resume work, the government has withheld the salary of 8-10 per cent of the Pandit employees who were recruited under the PM’s job package.
He added that Lt Governor Manoj Sinha should invite them for talks. The government has appointed a nodal officer, but no efforts have been made to reach out to the protesting employees, he said.
“The status quo continues. If talks had been held, a middle path would have been found by now,” he added.