 "Protest, Srinagar")
Hundreds of temporary state government employees held a rally for their regularisation in summer capital Srinagar on Thursday and also tried to storm the civil secretariat prompting police to use batons and water cannons to disperse them.
The protest march was organised by the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) which had last week announced the secretariat 'Gherao' programme if the government failed to fulfil their demands.
"It is ironical that instead of listening to our demands, the state government is using force to quell our protests", EJAC president Qayoom Wani told IANS.
Police detained Wani alongwith dozens of other protesting employees and lodged them in a police station near the civil secretariat.
Earlier, the protesting employees came in groups and reached near the secretariat which houses the offices of the chief minister, deputy CM, senior ministers and bureaucrats.
The authorities had made elaborate arrangements and deployed police in riot gear to prevent the protesters from entering the secretariat complex.
"More than 100 employees have been injured and some of them critically, by police", Wani alleged.
"There are around 60,000 daily wagers, casual labourers, seasonal and temporary workers who continue to toil hard and are getting peanuts and meagre salaries. Our protest is against this exploitation and dilly-dallying tactics of the government in regularising them," Wani added.
He said the employees have been working for 15 years and still their demands have not been met.
"We will announce our future course of action next week and if the government continues to be in slumber, we will intensify our agitation," he said.
