AIP Demands Time-Bound Regularisation of Casual Employees
Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Srinagar: Awami Ittihad Party (AIP) Chief Spokesperson Inam Un Nabi on Monday joined a protest organised by the Jammu Kashmir Casual Labours United Front and expressed solidarity with casual employees demanding regularisation of their services, urging the government to announce a clear and time-bound policy.
Addressing the protesters, Inam Un Nabi said the struggle of casual workers was about dignity, justice and the future of thousands of families who have served government departments for years without job security. “If the government can depend on their services for years, why can it not provide them with job security? Families cannot survive on assurances and employees cannot spend their entire lives waiting for regularisation,” he said.
The AIP spokesperson questioned the government’s priorities, remarking that while resources were being spent on official functions, publicity campaigns and other administrative activities, equal urgency must be shown in resolving the long pending concerns of casual employees and daily wagers.
He urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to announce a transparent, legally sustainable and time-bound regularisation policy for all eligible employees, backed by a clear roadmap and fixed timelines. “Casual employees and daily wagers are not seeking charity. They are demanding justice for their years of service. The government must move beyond assurances and take concrete decisions to secure their future,” he said.
Reaffirming his party’s support, Inam Un Nabi said the AIP would continue to raise the employees’ concerns and press for accountability until meaningful steps were taken. “The employees need a policy, a timeline and implementation, not another assurance,” he added.
The issue of casual labourers, daily wagers and other temporary workers is among the most persistent employment concerns in Jammu and Kashmir. Thousands of workers have served in departments such as public works, jal shakti, forests and power for many years on modest wages, often without benefits, leave or a pension. Successive governments have made commitments on the subject, and the matter has repeatedly reached the courts, which have examined the conditions under which long serving temporary staff may be considered for regularisation.
Employee groups argue that continued reliance on temporary labour for core departmental work undermines both worker welfare and administrative efficiency. They say a defined policy, with eligibility criteria based on length of service, would end uncertainty for families that depend on these incomes.
The protest on Monday added to the pressure on the elected government, which has been repeatedly reminded by opposition parties and employee bodies of the need to settle the matter. Any policy, observers say, will have to balance the legal requirements governing public recruitment with the genuine claims of long serving workers, and the financial burden on the exchequer.
