JAMMU, Feb 13: On protest for over eight months following targeted killings by terrorists, hundreds of Kashmiri migrant PM package employees and reserved category employees staged a separate sit-in here on Monday, reiterating their demand for relocation outside the Valley.
They also demanded immediate release of their pending salaries in view of the ‘Maha Shivratri’ festival, being observed later this week.
Scores of Prime Minister package Kashmiri migrant Pandit employees and Jammu-based Reserved Category employees shifted to Jammu in May last year following the killing of their colleagues, Rahul Bhat and Rajini Bala, by terrorists in the valley.
While Bhat was shot dead inside his office in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on May 12, Bala, a school teacher, was gunned down in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on May 31, last year.
On February 4, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said many PM Package employees have resumed their duties in the valley and directions have been issued to release their pending salaries without delay.
“We have been on a protest strike for the last 280 days in support of our demand for relocation outside the valley. Our biggest festival, Maha Shivratri is round the corner and we demand that our pending salaries be released immediately,” said an employee, Rohit Raina.
Raina, who was posted in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, was part of a large group of Pandit employees who staged a sit-in outside the Raj Bhavan in support of their demand for relocation and release of pending salaries.
