Maha rally by contractual workers in Doon, 60 arrested

Dehradun: Over 1500 contractual workers including health staff, teachers, jal nigam workers and others conducted a maha rally on Saturday in Dehradun demanding regularisation of their jobs.
The protesters got into a major brawl with police at Kanak chowk while they were trying to enter the secretariat. They continued their strike by raising slogans against the state government and abusing police and administration.
The agitated workers said they will decide their next strategy on Sunday and will not return to work until their demands are met. “The state government should have clarified its intentions at the very beginning of the protest. This move has completely broken the faith of over 18000 Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited (UPNL) workers of Uttarakhand. We are confident that this revolution will grow bigger now. The government played with the sentiments of youngsters and disabled people,” said Bhavesh Jaguri, chairperson, UPNL contractual workers’ mahasangh.
"Some of our protesters are still in Parade Ground and on Sunday we will obstruct some functions of chief minister Harish Rawat," Jaguri added.
Police had to resort to mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd and later 60 protesters were arrested. "60 protesters were arrested and then presented before magistrate who had directed to send them to jail." Manoj Katyal, circle officer (city).
Work in many state government offices came to a virtual standstill because of this protest. “In the time of crisis, we have to ensure that our patients don’t suffer beacuse of all this. We have asked some responsible officials of hospital to take the charge in the absence of contractual workers,” said Dr K K Tamta, medical superintendent of Government Doon Medical College hospital (GDMC).