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Several injured in police action on protesting employees in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Several employees were injured and over two dozen detained Thursday after police fired tear smoke shells, used water cannons and batons to thwart protest march of contractual employees in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.

Hundreds of contractual employees took to roads in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, demanding regularization of their services.

"The government's apathy has forced us to come on roads," said Sajad Ahmad Parray, chairman of daily wage employees forum. "We have been demanding regularization for long but government seems to have slept over the matter."

The employees were shouting anti-government slogans as they marched towards secretariat to build pressure on government. However, a huge posse of Indian police stopped the employees from reaching toward civil secretariat.

The confrontation between police and protesting employees triggered clashes, which continued for several hours.

According to Parray, about 60,000 employees have been engaged by region's government as daily rated workers.

"We sprayed water on them to disperse them,"said a police official."Their assembly was resulting in traffic mess on the roads and causing inconvenience to pedestrians."

Last month, hundreds of teachers appointed by government as educational guides under different schemes staged demonstrations in Srinagar demanding release of their monthly salaries.

Civil secretariat comprises the office of chief minister, top ministers and region's bureaucrats. Endi