A large number of contractual watershed employees on Friday held a massive rally at Mater Canteen Square here in front of the State Assembly demanding regularisation of their jobs. The protestors alleged that nearly 1,200 contractual watershed employees whose minimum qualification is graduation are deprived of basic Government facilities though they have completed five years in service.
The agitating employees under the banner of Odisha Watershed Contractual Employees’ Association (OWCEA) also hit out at the Government for not taking steps for proposed restructuring of the soil conservation department. Association president Dhruba Charan Mohanty stated that while hundreds of posts in Agriculture and Animal and Husbandry, Horticulture and Forests departments are lying vacant why their jobs are not being regularised. The protestors also submitted a memorandum to the Agriculture Minister to this effect, while also threatning to extend the agitation.