Miseries of daily wagers

In yet another instance, a daily wager of Public Health Engineering (PHE), now Jal Shakti department has died while performing his duties in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Reportedly, it was the second such incident in the span of just five days as earlier, a daily wager identified as Shabir Ahmed Yatoo died after falling from a dilapidated water tank in Tarzoo Sopore. Yatoo was cleaning the water supply scheme Tarzoo when he fell down and died in the hospital. This water tank has not been designed scientifically by engineers. Today, one more daily wager identified as Bashir Ahmed Alaie succumbed to his injuries at SKIMS Soura, who was a resident of Khandiphari Bijbehara village of south Kashmir. Bashir sustained injuries after he fell down from 3rd storey of a building while trying to repair the water leakage in a designated Yatri Camp at Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) Harnag. The Kashmir PHE Joint Employees Association has already raised its concern over the lackadaisical approach of the concerned authorities as it alleged that even after the unfortunate incident, the concerned Engineer didn’t bother to visit either on the spot or to the house of the victim. Several daily wagers have died so far while performing their duties, but what needs to be done is to ensure that their long pending demands are fulfilled at least so that their families would get the deserved government benefits after their demise in such tragic incidents. The government needs to take immediate measures in this regard and ensure that the daily wagers are entitled to get the benefits like the permanent employees so that they could heave a sigh of relief.