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| University administration, contractor at loggerhead over compensation claim | | Gardner dies unsung in SMVDU! | | Sumit Sharma
JAMMU, July 30: Work in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) Kakryal, has been paralyzed for last twelve days as about 200 contractual employees of the university have openly revolted against the management of the university and contractor for the failure of both to provide justice to the kin of one of their associates.
Further, Vice-Chancellor's arrogant attitude has added to miseries. There are allegations that Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Sudhir Jain, the fourth Vice Chancellor of the university misbehaved with the Panches and Sarpanches of the area who had come to meet him for the cause of local employees. Strike began while the admissions were on.
As per reports, workers went on strike following the death of one of their associates. The Mali namely Karnail Singh, succumbed to heart attack on July 8 while performing his duty in the premises of the university. His death sparked protests since the university instead of providing assistance to the kin of the deceased in the name of his insurance claim shifted the blame on the shoulders of contractor.
On the other side, the contractor asked the locals to approach university management, with a plea that his contract with the university has already expired. In the blame game, the employees were left in a lurch. The employees said that norms laid down by the labour commissioner are being brazenly violated both by the University and Contractor as none is ready to take responsibility of the insurance of the deceased.
The employees who are on strike speaking to the ET said that earlier, University management gave lollypop to the employees that the kin of the deceased would be given all benefits including gratuity, Provident Fund, leave encashment and insurance money. However, the management later took U-turn and asked employees that since they are on contract basis, they should better approach to their contractor namely Aggarwal.
They said that when they approached the contractor, they received the same response from him. To settle the dispute, a group of Panches and Sarpanches including Sarpanch Bansi Lal,Ramesh Sharma,Rajinder Mengi and Surjeet Singh visited the office of VC, but the VC instead of listening to them, rebuked the employees on strike and social activists as well. Further, they alleged, instead of solving their issue, the SMVDU management gave tender to another contractor namely Sun Shine Enterprises.
They have pleaded with Governor to include them on the pay rolls of the university. Meanwhile, repeated contact with VC SMVDU went vain as in the entire day he remained busy in meetings as told by his personnel section. However, some university professors on anonymity said that the management has record that the contractor Aggarwal was given extension till July 31.
Therefore, it should be his responsibility to compensate his employee by giving his all benefits. They further said that VC SMVDU and other staff members also expressed grief over the sad demise of the contractual employee and for sake of humanity; they collected an amount of Rs 19200 from their own pocket and gave the same to his family members.
University has told the contractor to settle the dispute at his own end without dragging the university management as university is making all efforts to provide EDL and PF to the deceased. Regarding absorption of the employees in the university, a memorandum on the part of VC is to be submitted to the Governor to take final decision. |
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