Casual labourers detained during protest in Srinagar

Scores of casual labourers from the Public Health Engineering (PHE) were on Saturday detained after they staged a silent protest march towards the Jammu and Kashmir Secretariat here with their demands for regularisation.

"We have launched a silent protest here. I want to appeal to the government to initiate some action addressing our concerns but mere lecture on the issue won't solve the purpose," Jammu and Kashmir Casual Daily Worker Forum president Sajid Ahmad said.

He said that the government must come clean on this issue or else the employees will intensify their protests in the coming days.

The PHE employees marched towards the Secretariat, where the assembly session is going on, raising slogans for regularisation of their jobs and release of salaries pending with the government.

The casual labourers of various departments, including horticulture, floriculture, forest department, soil and conservation, wild life and contingent paid employees, participated in the strike.