SRINAGAR: A mass rally of workers from different sectors was held in Jammu on December 24, 2025, under the banner of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, with participants marching from Maharaja Hari Singh Park through Dogra Chowk and Gumat before culminating at Indira Chowk. The rally was led by MLA M Y Tarigami, who is also the president of the State Committee of CITU.
Addressing the gathering, Tarigami expressed serious concern over what he described as the continued neglect of long-pending and genuine demands of lakhs of workers who form the backbone of public service delivery in Jammu and Kashmir. He said scheme workers, including ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and helpers, and Mid-Day Meal workers, were rendering invaluable services in health, nutrition, education, and social welfare but continued to face exploitation and insecurity. Despite years of service, he said, these workers were paid a meagre honorarium, denied recognition as workers, and excluded from basic labour rights and social security protections. Their demands for regularisation, a substantial revision of honorarium and incentives, coverage under EPF, ESI, pension and maternity benefits, and job security, he said, remained unaddressed.
Tarigami also raised concerns over the conditions of Border Roads Organisation casual paid workers, stating that they were being paid only minimum wages and deliberately excluded from EPF and ESI coverage despite clear directions from the Central EPFO Commissioner in Jammu. He described this as a blatant violation of statutory provisions and a denial of workers’ legal rights. He further highlighted the situation of daily wagers, casual, temporary and contractual workers employed across various government departments, many of whom, he said, had been working continuously for years and even decades. Despite this, they continued to be paid a minimum wage of Rs 311 per day without job security, regularisation, or social protection. Their long struggle for regularisation and dignified wages, he said, could no longer be ignored.
CITU working president Om Prakash, who also addressed the rally, drew attention to workers engaged in the construction of hydropower projects under CVPPPL, four-lane highway projects, and contract workers employed at various NHPC power stations in Jammu and Kashmir. He said these workers were performing work similar to that of regular employees but were subjected to discriminatory wage structures. CITU demanded that their wages and benefits be brought at par with those of workers employed at the Uri-I Power Station, invoking the principle of equal pay for equal work. He also called for formal recognition of workers’ unions and the free functioning of trade union activities at workplaces without intimidation or victimisation.
The trade union strongly criticised the four labour codes recently notified by the government, describing them as anti-worker and pro-corporate. CITU leaders said the codes weakened collective bargaining, promoted hire-and-fire practices, and diluted hard-won labour protections. They also opposed other legislations and policy measures, including the Shanti Bill, the Gram G Bill, the draft Seed Bill and the Electricity Amendment Bill, arguing that these adversely affected workers, farmers and ordinary citizens.
At the conclusion of the rally, CITU reiterated its demands, including recognition and regularisation of scheme workers with full social security coverage, immediate implementation of EPF and ESI for BRO casual paid workers, regularisation of long-serving daily wagers and temporary workers, withdrawal of what it termed anti-worker labour laws, initiation of meaningful dialogue with trade unions, wage parity for contract workers at CVPPPL and NHPC projects with those at Uri-I, and a minimum pension of Rs 4,000 per month for registered construction workers under the BOCW Welfare Board.
