Tauseef Ahmad
Bandipora Mar 16: The employees of the Power Development Department (PDD) on Thursday staged a protest in north Kashmir’s Bandipora, demanding the release of their pending salaries.
According to the employees, they had not received their salaries for the past two years, which had caused immense financial distress for them and their families. Despite several appeals to the authorities, no action had been taken to address their concerns.
The protesters demanded that the PDD management release their salaries immediately. The protesters locked the executive engineer’s office in Sumbal Bandipora and held a protest in front of it.
Speaking to the media, one of the protesting employee, Javaid Ahmad Pandit, said, “We have been patient for far too long. We cannot afford to wait any longer for our salaries to be released. We are not asking for anything more than what is rightfully ours. “It is our hard-earned money, and we need it to support our families.”
“The salary of 161 employees has been withheld for the last two years for no reason.” “The department is giving us continuity certificates and asking for regular work, but nobody sees that our children are hungry at our homes,” the protesting employees said.
The protest continued for several hours before the PDD management intervened and held talks with the employee representatives.
Meanwhile, after the assurance from the executive engineer, the protest was called off.
