Casual employees working within the Fisheries Department of Jammu and Kashmir are urging the administration to regularise their services and release their pending wages. These workers have been employed for extended periods, with some having served for decades, yet their demands for job security and fair compensation remain unaddressed.
Long-standing Demands for Regularisation and Wages
The Jammu and Kashmir Casual Labourers United Front (JKCLUF) has been vocal about the plight of these workers, highlighting that many have dedicated up to 25 years of service without any significant assurance of a secure future. The employees are seeking justice in the form of institutional security, fair remuneration, and a credible guarantee of dignity. Recent reports indicate that a significant number of casual and daily wage workers, numbering over one lakh across various government departments in Jammu and Kashmir, are still awaiting a regularisation policy. The Fisheries Department’s casual employees are among these persistent petitioners.
Information available with The Chenab Times indicates that a committee headed by the Chief Secretary was constituted in March 2025 to examine the humanitarian, legal, and financial aspects concerning casual, seasonal, and other temporary/contractual/need-based workers engaged across different departments. This committee is tasked with proposing a comprehensive framework for their regularisation. However, the government has maintained that it cannot set a rigid timeframe for finalising this policy due to the complex legal, administrative, and financial implications involved. Despite these ongoing considerations, workers express growing impatience, warning of intensified actions if their demands are not met.
Wages and Minimum Wage Act Compliance
Beyond regularisation, the immediate concern for many casual employees is the release of pending wages. Reports suggest that some workers have not received salaries for several months. The employees are also demanding the implementation of the revised Minimum Wages Act, citing the rising cost of living that makes survival difficult on meagre daily wages. They assert that all daily-rated workers should receive wages in accordance with the new minimum wage structure, as mandated by labour laws. The government, however, has stated that wages are being paid according to applicable terms and, for daily-rated and casual seasonal workers, as per the minimum wages notified by the government. Funds have reportedly been released to concerned departments for timely disbursement of wages for the current financial year.
The registered workers across departments in Jammu and Kashmir include casual labourers, seasonal labourers, daily rated or work-charged employees, part-time workers, and others. The data indicates that the PHE/I&FC sector has the highest number of such workers, followed by the Power Development Department, Education, Forest, and Public Works departments. While the government has acknowledged the issue and established a committee for examination, a definite timeline for regularisation has not been provided, with the process described as being under active consideration and requiring extensive examination of legal, administrative, and financial aspects.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
