State to regularise 60,000 daily earners

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 13

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today announced that her government will regularise over 60,000 daily earners and casual labourers working in various departments of the state.

“Our govt will be regularising 60,000 daily earners and casual labourers working in various departments in J&K to provide sustainable livelihood to those who need it the most. Hard work and dedication must always be recognised and appreciated,” tweeted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today.

Mehbooba’s announcement will bring a huge relief to the daily earners and casual workers, who were recruited by successive governments over the period of time.

According to the government records, there are a total of 1.05 lakh daily earners and casual workers working in different departments. The highest of about 30,000 are working in the Public Health and Engineering Department while 13,412 are working with the Power Development Department.

On January 12, 2015, Governor NN Vohra, during the Governor’s rule in the state, had initiated the process of regularisation of over 60,000 daily earners. While discussing the matter with the then Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Bharat Bhushan Vyas, now Chief Secretary, the Governor had voiced his concern over non-payment of wages to daily earners.

The Governor had instructed that the orders with regard to regularisation were to be issued by April 15, 2016. Later, Mehbooba Mufti took over the reins of the government which made the announcement today.

As per the mechanism finalised by the government, these workers would be categorised as skilled and non-skilled for the purposes of regularisation on the basis of their educational, technical and professional profile and their remuneration would be accordingly determined on the basis of the skill and the length of engagement.

“Following the intervention of the Chief Minister, the government has already approved a road map for the regularisation of the daily earners and the formal order in this regard will be issued by the Finance Department within a couple of days,” a Finance Department official said.

The official said initially the regularisation would be made against consolidated remuneration depending on the skill and length of engagement of a worker. However, they would be entitled to all financial and service benefits, including annual pay hike, NPS, leave and medical reimbursement, periodical hikes in remuneration, maintenance of service records and would be covered under work, conduct and discipline rules. including retirement, he said.

The Cabinet had, on October 23 this year, accepted the road map prepared by the high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary for regularisation of casual, seasonal labourers and daily rated workers.

Pertinently, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, in his Budget speech on January 11 this year, had announced that the ruling PDP-BJP government preferred the regularisation of daily earners and casual workers over the implementation of the 7th Pay Panel recommendations in the state.

“Given the resource position, I have a choice to make: either implement the 7th Pay Commission or regularise, in some manner, the estimated 61,000 casual and other workers who have been on the fringes for the past 10 to 20 years. On grounds of economic and financial logic both have competing claims. Yet on social and moral grounds, the case of the casual workers is a much more compelling and a heart-rending one,” Drabu had said in the Legislative Assembly.