It is intriguing that Union of Civic Safai Karamcharis (SKCs) of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has gone into protest mode while announcing its decision to go on Kaam Chhoro Hartal mounting pressure on the newly installed government, which is only one month old and is still analyzing things before going full throttle to work for the welfare of the people.
What is surprising is the fact that the issue raised by the aforesaid employees’ union of alleged outsourcing of sanitation and cleanliness works in one of the three Municipal Zones (Gandhi Nagar) of the Jammu city is not new but the restlessness shown by the leaders of Safaikaramcharis in holding protests and declaring strike soon after the NC government came into power raises many question marks because why these entities remain silent over this matter under the LG’s administration and now trying to pressurized the popular government which is still in its infancy stage.
The issue highlighted by the protesting Safaikaramcharis could be of grave concern but the timing of the protest and call for strike are hinting towards something fishy because if the leadership of these employees was really concerned to resolve the issue, it should have first approached the concerned authorities and started dialogue to sort out things rather than toeing a line of conflict and agitation.
Reportedly, the aforesaid union has also demanded to release the list of 600 candidates who have appeared for interviews against the vacancies in JMC and have completed all the required formalities.
As the new government in J&K is still finding it difficult to get a clear picture about its powers as J&K being a UT has been confronting with relatively new situation with two entities heading the administration leading to many unprecedented outcomes.
The leaders of Safaikaramcharis should preferably have gone for talks and tried to resolve issues amicably because going on strike will deteriorate situation in the municipal limits, which is not in the interest of anyone and will also affect badly the Swachhta Mission envisaged by the centre for making the lives of people more meaningful, besides bringing serenity in the city of temples.
