Hundreds of daily wage employees from the Jal Shakti department converged in Jammu on Thursday, October 23, 2025, to demand that the government promptly release the report from the committee tasked with regularizing their services.
The PHE Employees United Front, Jammu, emphasized the urgency, directly appealing to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to present the crucial committee report during the current Assembly session.
The workers’ union warned of a more forceful protest on October 27 if their demands remain unaddressed. They highlighted their struggle, spanning over two decades, to secure permanent employment.
Chanting slogans like “We want justice,” the workers organized a sit-in demonstration outside the Jal Shakti office, coinciding with the inaugural day of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly’s autumn session.
The dedicated daily wage staff affirmed their commitment to ongoing protests until their services are regularized and the Minimum Wages Act is fully implemented.
“Despite over 1,200 days of protests, the government has failed to meet our demand for regularizing daily wagers. We are using the first day of the Assembly session to press our demands and uncover the status of the committee’s findings,” stated Ravi Hans, a leader of the PHE Employees United Front (Jammu Province), to reporters.
Hans recalled that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had established this committee during the previous Assembly session to address the regularization of daily wage workers.
“During the last session, while we were out on the streets, the Chief Minister announced the committee, giving it six months to present its report. That deadline was September 19, but we still have no information about the report’s progress,” he explained.
The workers’ body insisted that the government must table the report during the current session. “If the government fails to present the report in the Assembly, our front will escalate its protest on October 27,” Hans cautioned.
The Jammu and Kashmir government initially formed a six-member committee on March 19 to investigate issues surrounding the regularization of daily wage employees across the Union territory.
Mr. Abdullah had announced the committee in the Assembly, indicating that a clear roadmap for regularization would be prepared and presented in the subsequent budget session.
Chaired by the chief secretary, the committee was tasked with examining the humanitarian, legal, and financial dimensions of regularizing casual, seasonal, and other contract workers throughout Jammu and Kashmir, proposing viable solutions.
Currently, an estimated 67,000 daily wage workers are employed across various government departments in Jammu and Kashmir.