Jammu and Kashmir government employees of Kathua district today protested against an alleged misbehaviour with an Additional Deputy Commissioner by an advocate and went on strike over the issue, hitting official works in the district, an official said.
However, the strike was called off this evening after constitution of a probe panel to investigate the matter and seek legal action.
"Thousands of employees from all the government departments across the district today assembled in front of district administrative complex Kathua to mark their protest against misbehaviour with the ADC by an advocate yesterday," a senior District official said.
The protesting employees from Billawar, Bani, Basohli and Hiranagar also reached Kathua and joined the employees. Employees union of Rural Development, Revenue, PHE, Local Bodies, Health and Social Welfare departments announced indefinite strike in protest against the incident, he said.
An unruly mob alleged to be the supporters of a local advocate who runs a local cable networking tried to barge into the office of Additional District Magistrate Kathua yesterday after he issued a show cause notice to the networking that was found to have violated the 'Model Code of Conduct' by telecasting a two-hour footage of a particular politician.
More than 4,000 employees sitting on protest blocked the Kathua-Kalibari road and raised slogans against the erring lawyer seeking immediate action in the matter, official said.
Employees unions called upon the officials to continue the strike to a logical end and appealed the state government and district administration to take serious action in the matter and put an end to abuse of officials in the manner.
Work remained suspended in the offices of departments in district and complete shutdown of offices was reported in district, tehsil and block level offices, he added.
Senior district officers submitted a memorandum to the District Development Commission in early morning intimating about complete strike to be observed by all the employees of departments. Meetings with associations of employees failed to yield any results till afternoon as the employees wanted immediate action, he said.
