MGNREGA Engineers Association on Wednesday extended pen-down strike in favour of their demands till May 25.
Rohit Dev Singh Manhas, State President MGNREGA Engineers told GNS that government continues to give cold shoulder to the genuine demands of the qualified engineering and other staff despite assurances from time to time.
“There will be complete pen down strike till May 25,” he said, adding, “In case government fails to fulfill our genuine we will intensify the protests.”
Work in Rural Development Department in Kashmir has remained affected for the several consecutive days as MGNREGA Engineers Association continued with their pen-down strike in favour of their ‘long pending’ demands.
The Association has already issued an appeal to the Lieutenant Governor to “intervene” for fulfilling their “genuine demands.”
He said that government continues to give “cold-shoulder” to their “genuine” demands despite constitution of two committees and recommendations by them.
Two committees were formed to look into the demands and but government has failed to fulfill promises made from time to time, he said. “Government agreed our demands in principal and formed two committees.
The committees made recommendations but were not acted upon by the government,” he said, adding, “to protest against the indifferent attitude towards our genuine demands by the government, we have decided to extend pen-down strike by three more days and if there is still no headway we will then intensify our protests and chalkout new plans.” He also urged Lieutenant Governor to intervene into the issue on “humanitarian basis”.
Among others, the Association is demanding hike in salary and policy for regularization as “we have given our prime of life to make the MGNREGA and other schemes a success.” He said that staff carries out all developmental works in Rural Development department including Capex, SBM, and MGNREGA. (GNS)