J-K: Ruckus in Assembly over daily wagers' issue, BJP MLAs walk out; CM Abdullah urges workers to end strike
Daily wage workers are protesting since Friday, they are pushing for regularization and release of the pending wages. Due to the strike, there is a water crisis in both Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly witnessed a heated session on Tuesday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs walked out after a ruckus over the daily wagers' protest. The BJP MLAs demanded talks between the government and protestors. Meanwhile, J and K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah appealed to the workers to end strike.
He also urged the daily wagers to raise their grievances before the panel set up to address them.
Ruckus in the JK Assembly
BJP MLAs created chaos in the Assembly over the issued for about 30 minutes and then walked out. Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Sunil Sharma raised the issue during the question hour and demanded the government to hold talks with the workers. BJP accused that the government is behaving "in an arrogant manner".
These allegations prompted agitated response from the National Conference MLAs and they sloganeered against BJP. MLAs alleged that BJP failed to resolve these issues during "their 10-year rule" -- referring to the PDP-BJP coalition government and the President's rule that was imposed after the BJP withdrew support.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather tried to bring order to the House but the verbal duels continued.
Daily wagers were baton-charged by police
Daily wage workers started protesting on Friday and during the protest, Jal Shakti (PHE) department workers and daily wagers were baton-charged by police. They were also detained in Jammu as they marched towards the assembly, the CM's residence, and the civil secretariat. They have been on strike for the last four days prompting a water crisis in the Union Territory.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said the Omar Abdullah government was serious about resolving the daily wagers' grievances and that a committee had been formed for this purpose.
The BJP, he said, failed to resolve the issue in the past 10 years. Angered by this, BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma asserted that matters concerning the Lieutenant Governor cannot be discussed in the House as per rules. The LG administration handled affairs of the UT after J-K's bifurcation.