Police foils protest march by government employees

Jammu and Kashmir police today foiled a protest march of government employees in support of their demands, including regularisation of daily wage and casual workers.
Hundreds of employees of Public Health Engineering department assembled near Civil Secretariat here and tried to march towards its main gate, but were stopped by police who asked them to disperse, official sources said.
The employees insisted on going ahead with the protest, following which police used batons and water cannons to disperse them, sources said, adding that dozens of employees were taken into preventive custody.
The protest call was given by Kashmir PHE Joint Employees Association in support of demand for regularisation of daily wage workers, casual labourers and need-based workers.

They also demanded that their pending salaries be released and they should be paid regularly.
The employees led by association president Sajad Ahmad Parray have threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike from June 5 if their demands are not met.
The employees have been frequently holding demonstrations and sit-ins over the past several months on the issue.