Several drivers and conductors working with Delhi Public School (DPS) Sheikhpora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district staged a protest on Monday against the retrenchment notice given to them by the school authorities, reported a local news agency, KDC.
The employees assembled under the banner of Drivers Union DPS Budgam and raised slogans against the school management. They said that they have been working as drivers, conductors in the school for more than a decade and termed the sudden termination as “injustice”.
One of the protestors told the agency that on 15 September, we were told through SMS that our services were being terminated and when we approached the management to provide us the reason for our retrenchment. They further claimed that the school is suffering financial losses, an argument that doesn’t stand with the Disaster Management Act currently under place.
Another protestors while accusing former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Saif-u-Din Soz, who is one of the founders of the school, of cheating them and said: “The school had no access road and villagers were promised a job against contributing land towards the construction of the road, but now they are shunting us out, under the pretext of financial loss.”
“The school has a permission to run only 16 vehicles, but actually there are 100 school buses operating on the different routes, which makes management liable for punishment and cancellation of permission,” they said.
“If school goes ahead with its retrenchment plan. Our first counter step will be closing the access road to the school,” they warned. (KDC)
