The members of Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam limited (UPNl) Employees’ Federation continued their stir on Wednesday, leaving the commuters in a mess. The protesters  attempted to rally to the Chief Minister’s residence while shouting slogans in support of their demands, the most prominent  being regularisation of their jobs.

Following the rally, the commuters were left gravely inconvenienced. They had to sweat profusely and for hours too while getting stuck in the vehicles they were in on a frightfully sultry day.  Police, however, sprang into action when they saw the Chief Secretary’s car stuck in the traffic jam on Rajpur Road.

The passage of the CS’s car was cleared, though the people’s ordeal on the road continued. The agitators demonstrated at the residence of the minister Indira Hridayesh at Hatibarkala, compounding things for the commuters. The protesters were stopped at the barricade at Hathibarkala.

The State president of the agitating organisation, Bhavesh Jaguri said that they would continue to protest until the government order is released meeting their long-pending demands. 

Hundreds of contractual workers have been resorting to work boycott stir since Monday, affecting the functioning of many departments of the State Government. The association of the UPNl workers gave a call for indefinite strike in support of their demands.

large number of UPNl workers assembled at the agitation site in Parade Ground on Wednesday and rallied for the Chief Minister’s residence. Agitators were seen staging protest at every crossing they reached while raising slogans against the state government for their alleged apathy.

They forced traffic to come to a grinding halt at Dilaram Chowk. The traffic system in the state capital was then thrown out of gear.  The vehicles remained stuck with the agitation spree continuing. The administration had deployed adequate police forces in view of the rally. However, their presence failed to relive the suffering  of the jam-stuck people even a bit.

Things on the road assuming grim proportions, Chief Minister’s media in-charge Rajeev Jain reached the protest site and assured the agitators that   a meeting of them with the Chief Minister would be arranged soon.  However, the protesters refused to  budge, determined as they were to show  their  prowess. They staged a sit-in at the spot near   the barricade where they were stopped.

Jaguri said that they were desperate, given their plight.  The then minister in charge of UPNl had in 2014 declared in the State Assembly that no UPNl worker would be removed and they would be absorbed in the departments they are working on contract, he said, adding that they were now backing  out of their commitment.

Other  protestors echoed the same sentiment, saying that    the declaration remaining  unfulfilled, they had no option but to stage rallies. They cite the recent decision of the state Government to start recruitment from Staff Selection Commission for the posts in which the contractual UPNl workers are employed as one such misleading act on the part of the State Government.