By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net,
Srinagar : The volunteers of National Youth Corps (NYC), who were on indefinite hunger strike for the past 57 days, called off their protest on Tuesday after assurances from ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti about the redressal of their pending issues.
The J&K Minister for Finance Haseeb Drabu visited the protesting NYC youths at the venue of protest in Pratap Park near Lal Chowk, where he promised budgetary allocations for NYC’s in the forthcoming state assembly session.
“We don’t want to make this issue repeat again that’s why we are opting a sustainable way to re adjust NYC volunteers because it is not just an issue of these youths but the issue of 7,000 Kashmiri families,” Drabu told NYC volunteers at the packed venue.
The minister promised to raise the issue in the next assembly session, scheduled to begin in January next year.
Importantly, after the second mass uprising in 2010 and subsequent cases of youth joining separatist activities of stone throwing, hundreds of youth were engaged by the then government in various departments for two years, with the sole motive to keep them away from stone pelting. On completion of term, the verbal extension was issued on June 3, 2012 by then government.
The striking NYC youth went on indefinite hunger strike on September 1 this year for implementation of Cabinet Order no 192/CIR/2014 and then Secretary Education vide order number 737-EDU of 2014 taken by the previous National Conference-Congress government to engage 7,000 NYC Youth as contingent workers in school education department against the vacancies which were created after the upgradation of 800 state schools.
“As of now we are calling off the hunger strike after assurances from Mehbooba Mufti and Finance Minister regarding redressal of our issues. Let’s wait and watch,” Asif Ali Bhat, President, NYC, told TwoCircles.net
Around 250 NYC’s volunteers were hospitalised in last 57 days after their condition deteriorated due to the continuing hunger strike.
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