Outsourced workers protest outside Himachal Assembly for regularisation

Scores of outsourced workers held a protest Wednesday outside the Himachal Pradesh Assembly demanding regularisation of their services.

Supported by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the workers protesting under the aegis of Outsourced Workers Association (OWA) led by its state president Yashpal reached the Assembly in the shape of a procession from local Panchayat Bhawan for its gherao.

However, the police stopped them a few yards away from the Assembly where they started a sit-in dharna.

Currently, around 45,000 outsourced workers are serving in various government departments including PWD, Health, Irrigation and Public Health (IPH), Education, boards and corporations, CITU national secretary Kashmir Singh, who also participated in the protest, said.

"The BJP had promised before last Assembly elections to regularise all outsourced employees but it forgot its promise after coming to power," Singh said.

Two outsourced workers Seema and Hem Lata claimed that they had been working in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN), a PSU, and Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Hospital for 14 and 4 years respectively, but their services were not regularised yet.

Alleging politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus behind outsourced policy, the CITU national secretary demanded all such workers be regularised without any further delay.

Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have hand in gloves for outsourced policies as several leaders of both the political parties are running outsourcing companies and societies, he alleged.

If posts exist in government departments, why the state government is hesitating to appoint regular employees, he asked.