No delay in wage payments for casual, daily wagers: Rana

Srinagar, Mar 19: Minister for Jal Shakti Javed Ahmed Rana on Wednesday informed the Assembly that there is no delay in wage payments for casual and daily wagers working in the department. The statement came in response to a question raised by MLA Muzaffar Iqbal Khan.
Khan had sought clarification on whether daily wagers in the Jal Shakti Department were performing essential duties and if their wages were being withheld due to non-uploading of their details on the designated portal. He also questioned the status of those who were promised engagement in lieu of land donations for reservoir construction but were still awaiting employment.
In response, Rana said that “registered casual workers and daily wagers are assisting the regular employees of the Jal Shakti Department in maintaining essential services.” He further clarified that “the monthly wages for these workers are being paid regularly and there is no issue with wage delays due to the portal process.”
The Minister explained that while there were claims by some workers that their details had not been uploaded to the portal, this was linked to an earlier process initiated by the Finance Department. Rana said that “the government had imposed a complete ban on the engagement of casual and seasonal laborers in government departments and state-owned PSUs, as per Government Order No. 43-F of 2015, dated March 17, 2015.” He also mentioned that an earlier identification and profiling exercise had been conducted, but some workers may have been inadvertently left out of the process.
Regarding those workers who had donated land for the construction of reservoirs, Rana stated that “the engagement of workers in exchange for land donations has also been banned by the government under the same order.” He assured that “the department processes land compensation claims according to the law if the land was not donated but was taken in exchange for employment.”