The J&K administration has given the go-ahead for regularisation of 12,000 daily wagers of the Power Development Department
On 26 February, as the afternoon dragged on, Abdul Rashid received a call from a colleague, informing him about the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to approve the regularisation of 12,000 daily wagers working for the Corporations of Power Development Department (PDD). Rashid’s happiness knew no bounds. His eyes watered as he held his five-year-old son, Faizan, to his bosom.
Almost on the same day, five years ago, Rashid lost his arm in a horrific electric shock. “The first thing that crossed my mind was that if I get regularised, I might be able to buy myself a prosthetic arm,” Rashid said.
Rashid, a resident of Zablipora Bijbehara, is a daily labourer working in the PDD for the last twelve years. In February 2017, while Rashid was out to repair a transformer jumper in a nearby town, he got electrocuted and received critical injuries to his arms, chest and abdomen. He spent a month in Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, but pulled through after having his right arm amputated near the elbow by the doctors.
“I was told that the power supply has been cut-off, however, that was not the case. I touched a live wire and everything went blank. It felt like my whole body was on fire,” he recalled.
Being the lone breadwinner for his family, Rashid struggled to arrange money for his medical treatment.
Rashid lives with his in-laws and his father-in-law is also disabled. The absence of compensation for such accident victims forced Rashid to approach the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), which granted him an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh.
He was hopeful of regularisation back in 2019, but the closure of the commission post abrogation of Article 370 prolonged his agony. “I have spent around Rs 4-5 lakh on my surgeries and we had to sell our land for it. Although my name appeared in the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) list in 2019, no such order was ever issued.”
Rashid says that he continued to perform his duties regularly, but an accidental fall in December this year left him bed-ridden. After losing balance, he hit the road and suffered internal injuries. “I still do every work, except climbing a pole. My surgery is scheduled soon and I will get back to work again.”
Rashid and his wife are expecting their second child next month and they refer to it as a ‘harbinger of happiness’. “The child is bringing the greatest of joys with him. Once I get regularised, half of my troubles will go away. I can admit my kids in a private school,” Rashid said, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Similar feelings are voiced by 30-year-old Mohammad Rafi Ganie, who says that the regularisation accord has given him a new lease of life. In June 2017, he was electrocuted while repairing a faulty HT line in Seer village of Anantnag and lost his left hand. Rafi is not the only casualty in the family. His father, who was also a need-based lineman in the department, died because of a heart attack during maintenance work. “I got the job after his death. Had I known that we would be paid peanuts for this risky job, I would have never preferred to do it,” Rafi said.
Rafi wears a prosthetic arm and has continued to work after the mishap. He has three daughters, a wife and a mother to feed, and has no other source of income. He told Firstpost that his monthly salary of Rs 6,750 hasn’t been released since 2020. “We live in a tin shed and have no possessions. My life has completely turned upside down.”
For survival, the family relies on help from his fellow workers in the department. Farooq Ahmad, an employee at Rafi’s workplace, said that they provide him with essentials such as food, medicine and clothing. “Someone among us gives him a bag of rice; someone pays him for things like milk, roti and that’s how they make a living. When Rafi was admitted to a hospital, we went door to door to collect money for his treatment,” Farooq said. “No compensation was given to him, but it is the hope of regularisation that keeps them going,” he added.
Amidst these hardships, Rafi was now on cloud nine after he came to know about the approval of rules for the future progression of PDD employees. “The news is a ray of light in the darkness for people like me. Now, my daughters will not have to beg in front of anyone,” he said, while eagerly waiting for his regularisation order.
According to news reports, 84 daily-wage linemen of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (PDD) have suffered disabilities, while 62 others have lost their lives in the last five years. Many of these permanent daily labourers (PDL) and temporary daily laborers (TDL) have been working for more than a decade on poor wages.
“Without these daily wagers, the corporation cannot function. They are always at the forefront ensuring smooth power supply but unfortunately, they have no risk cover,” Mian Mushtaq, former president of the daily wagers association, said. He added that the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) is at times forced to seek financial assistance from its staffers for the treatment of daily-wage employees.
For Irshad Ahmad Sheikh of Lazibal Anantnag, the dependency after falling from an electric pole became a reason for his broken engagement. Just two years after his recruitment, on 10 November 2009, Irshad was repairing the power lines in the Khanabal area, when high volts of electricity jolted him and he was thrown back. He landed on a stone and suffered a serious spinal cord injury.
“The officials rushed me to a hospital that day, but after that, no one approached me. They left me alone to fend for myself,” Irshad told Firstpost. “I was even taken to Amritsar for better treatment, but the doctors said that the fluid in my spinal cord has dried and they can no longer perform a surgery.”
Irshad has lost sensation in both his legs and uses lower-limb orthotics to support them. Besides, requiring a walker for movement, he also has a urinary diversion. His aged mother and caretaker, Jalla, says that they spent nearly Rs 40 lakh on his treatment. “We sold the gold that we had taken as a gift for his bride after their engagement was called off,” she said.
After they failed to receive any compensation from the government or department, they filed a case against PDD in the labour court and got a medical compensation of Rs 5.40 lakh. “The money was straight away given to our lawyers and to people we had borrowed money from.”
Although Irshad is still registered as a casual worker with the department, he hasn’t received his salary since the accident. “I lost my youthful days to this job, and what did it give me? Nothing,” he lamented. Irshad said that an official cited the case against the department as a ground for his unpaid dues.
His brother, Yusuf, a shopkeeper by profession, takes care of his expenses, and he said that these victims deserve rehabilitation, but they were taken for granted. “My brother was a free bird whose wings got clipped. Only regularisation would mean justice to us now. We expect the names of these disabled workers to be on the top of the list,” he said.
“Be mar’haa shi’hij (I can die peacefully now),” Jalla sobbed, on being asked about the recent regularisation announcement.
The author is a freelance journalist based in Kashmir.
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