Congress backs vocational trainers’ protest; Nizamuddin Bhat meets protesters in Srinagar

SRINAGAR, September 28: Congress legislator and MLA Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat on Monday urged the Jammu and Kashmir government to hear the demands of protesting vocational trainers and take a decision based on justice and available resources.

Bhat made the remarks after visiting the ongoing protest by vocational trainers in Srinagar, who entered the fifth consecutive day of their agitation seeking a comprehensive job policy, removal of Vocational Training Partner (VTPs) and a permanent solution to their employment concerns.

“Whether the demand is good or bad, the government’s responsibility is to listen. They take the decision, and the decision is also based on justice and the resources that are available,” Bhat told Kashmir Convener at the protest site.

Describing the trainers as qualified professionals who had been rendering services for years, Bhat said their employment arrangement required consideration.

“If their legitimate demand is that the appointing authority is one department and they get services from private companies, that is, I should say, against the labour law,” he said.

Bhat further said the arrangement was unfair to the trainers and called for their concerns to be examined within the applicable legal and administrative framework.

“It is unfair to them,” he said, urging the government to listen to the protesters and take a decision on their demands.

“There is a need to take a decision. I will expect the government… we have also come, other people will also come. The best situation will be that justice will be done to them,” Bhat said.

The vocational trainers have been demanding a comprehensive job policy to address their long-pending employment concerns and have been seeking an end to the existing outsourcing arrangement. They have alleged that they have been awaiting a permanent employment framework for more than a decade.