By: Nasir Azam
Srinagar: The policy unveiled by the Jammu & Kashmir government in 2017 for regular engagement of casual, seasonal and other workers is under examination.
Official documents in possession of news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) reveal that the General Administration Department (GAD), in its opinion, has told the Roads & Buildings department that the policy for regular engagement of casual, seasonal and other workers is under examination.
“The department is advised that the policy with regard to casual labourers under SRO-520 is under examination in the Government,” the GAD has written to the R&B department.
The Finance department has communicated to the R&B department that SRO-520 is under review on advice of the Law department.
On December 21, 2017, the PDP-BJP government unveiled a policy under SRO-520 for regular engagement for casual, seasonal and other workers.
Under the policy, the casual, seasonal and other workers were entitled to monthly remuneration ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 24,000, provided that their period of engagement is above 10 years and they possess minimum educational qualification of 8th standard or above. The policy categorized the workers as skilled and unskilled for remuneration and other benefits. It was applicable to casual labourers, daily-rated workers, seasonal workers, ITI-trained workers and left-out adhoc/contractual/consolidated workers who had failed to fulfill the eligibility criteria prescribed under the J&K civil services (special provision) Act, 2010.
An empowered committee constituted by the Jammu & Kashmir Government under the chairmanship of administrative secretary Finance department was authorised to recommend cases for regular engagement of casual, seasonal and other workers after proper scrutiny of proposals received from the concerned administrative departments.
The empowered committee recommended 578 casual, season and other workers for regular engagement before the policy was put into cold storage in 2019.
The empowered committee never met after January 2019, dashing hopes of thousands of daily-wagers working in different government departments—(KNO)
