J&K Employees Provident Fund Organisation (JKEPFO) members of Kashmir Division have began an indefinite strike in support of their pending demands.

In a statement, the protesting employees stated that they have approached every quarter of the administration during the past 2 ½ years for settlement of genuine demands which include the issuance of HR Notification but till date apart from promises & assurances nothing has been done by the administration which has resulted that the employees/pensioners are in distress with different apprehensions regarding future prospects of their services.

“Pertinent is to mention here that after the abrogation of Article 370, Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 has been made applicable to the erstwhile state of J&K after repealing the J&K Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1961 as per J&K Reorganization Act of 2019, and the government had assured that the service benefits shall be taken care of and no employee shall suffer as regard to the service benefits under Central Act made applicable to the UTs of J&K and Ladakh but till date nothing has been done which has resulted that the employees of JKEPFO have are left with no option but to go on indefinite strike for settlement of their demands”, reads the statement.

“The protesting employees have expressed their concern over the delay tactics being adopted by the authorities in issuance of HR Notification as per CAC recommendations (MHA), settlement of SRO cases, conducting DPC, regularization of Consolidated Orderly namely Sajad Ahmad Mir as per Hon’ble High Court Order and obtaining budgetary support for the financial year 2022-23 as assured and promised by Central EPFO as per CAC recommendations as the revenue collection of JKEPFO with effect from November 2019 is directly going into central pool and due to non-availability of budget the employees/pensioners of JKEPFO will be left with non-payment of salaries, pensions and other day to day expenses during the current financial year”, the statement reads.

The employees have appealed to the authorities to settle all these genuine demands immediately without any further delay so that the employees/pensioners of JKEPFO can have a sigh of relief.