Public health eemployees threaten suicide - wages not paid for four months

PHE daily wagers threaten suicides
Oct 1 Rising Kashmir

Demand wage release

Mir Tariq
Bandipora, Sep 30: While demanding immediate release of their salaries a large number of daily wagers in this North Kashmir district of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Tuesday threatened that they will commit suicides in case their demands were not conceded.
More than 200 daily wagers of the PHE staged a sit in protest near the D.C office who are running from pillar to post to get their salary released, which the department had allegedly withheld without any reason.
The employees threatened to commit suicides in case their demands were not conceded. "We and our children have been brought on the verge of starvation due to non-payment of our salaries for the past four months. What shall we eat? Where shall we go? Does the department wants us to beg?" they questioned.
Spokesman of daily wagers Farooq Ahmed said: “PHE has not released their salaries form July this year. Despite the orders from the Government in this connection but department is not releasing the same in our favour without any reason," he said
"We approached the officers in PHE however; but they are not responding," said Sajad Ahmed a daily wager, adding, "Our salary was stalled despite orders by the chief and superintending engineer."
They urged the government to release pay at the earliest as the employees had taken loan and are under huge debt.
"I had to eke out extra money in April to deposit the admission fee of my children. I had to borrow money from a relative to sustain my family for past four months," said a daily wager Ghulam Ahmed
Meanwhile a group headed by Farooq Ahmed met Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Sheikh Mushtaq and briefed him their grievances.
Talking to Rising Kashmir Executive Engineer Ghulam Qadir Pintoo said, "Due to some technical faults we were not able to release the wages of the daily wagers earlier.”
"However we have diverted the funds for the release of the one month salary to the daily wagers," said Pintoo.
The department of PHE Government of Jammu and Kashmir released funds amounting 38. 56 lakh (approximately 38, 56, 640) under Major Head: 4215 134/CE/PHE/PlG of 2008 (12-09-2008), which includes 6.13 lakh for PHE Special sub-division Bandipora. But the department is not releasing the wages due to unknown reasons.