Assam: Casual workers of PHE Department announce indefinite strike over unresolved grievances

A Correspondent

TANGLA: The All Assam PHE Asthayee Sramik Karmachari Parishad  has announced an indefinite strike, demanding the fulfillment of long-pending issues faced by former care takers, volunteers, pump operators, and jal mitras working under the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department of state. According to reports,the casual workers who have been rendering yeoman’s service for years and are backbone behind the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission scheme of Central government are working without any fixed pay and  have pressed for long seeking solutions to their grievances but the department or the State government have ignored them at large.

The workers’ union in their memorandum to State PHED Minister has raised multiple concerns, including the implementation of minimum wages as per labour laws, release from the  User Committee and Panchayat Department and their appointment with salaries from the PHE Department, ensuring their social security and appointment of previous workers who have been waiting for employment. As a part of their statewide protest the Jal Mitras and casual workers staged a sit-in in front of office of Executive Engineer Tangla PHED on Monday. “Our  repeated requests and protests, including democratic movements and several representations to the department and state government for our legitimate rights have been ignored so the union have decided for indefinite strike from January 3 last and the government will be responsible for any inconvenience due to disruption in water supply,” said Jal Mitra, Dhruba Swargiary. 

Pertinently, in February 2024, the workers met with the Chief Engineer of the PHE Department and Assam Legislative Member Kamalakshya Dev Purkayastha, where they were promised that their issues would be resolved however no tangible action were  taken following which on  March 4, 2024, another meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Additional Chief Secretary of PHE, where discussions were held with senior officials, but the outcome was reportedly unfruitful. After several rounds of deliberation, the workers’ grievances remained unresolved, leading to the announcement of the indefinite strike starting January 3, 2025. The indefinite strike by the workers is expected to severely impact the water supply services across the state, potentially leaving many areas without access to potent water. 

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