Congress protests in Panchkula over HKRN workers’ jobs

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Hooda accuses BJP government of promoting contractual employment and job insecurity. 

Panchkula, August 20

Haryana Congress staged a protest outside the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) office in Panchkula in support of contractual workers, demanding their regularisation and improved employment benefits.

The protest was led by former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress president Rao Narender. MPs Deepender Hooda, Varun Mula, Satpal Brahmachari and Karmvir Buddha, along with Congress MLAs, former legislators, senior leaders and thousands of workers, participated in the protest.

Police stopped the protesters using barricades near the HKRN office, following which they raised slogans against the BJP government and demanded accountability over the corporation’s functioning.

Hooda said the Congress was demanding that all workers employed through HKRN be given permanent government jobs, along with equal pay scales, dearness allowance, promotions, reservation and retirement benefits. He also called for future appointments to be made through permanent recruitment.

He alleged that the BJP government was promoting contractual employment even for gazetted posts and claimed this was indirectly affecting reservation benefits for Dalits, backward classes and economically weaker sections.

Hooda further alleged that the government had announced the regularisation of 1,25,000 contractual workers before the assembly elections and issued a notification on 15 August 2024, but no law or official order had subsequently been issued to make them permanent.

Rao Narender said a regularisation policy introduced during the Congress government had recently received judicial validation from the High Court and Supreme Court. He alleged that the BJP government had failed to introduce a similar policy during its 11-year tenure.

Congress leaders also described HKRN as a system that provides educated youth to government departments and boards on a contractual basis, alleging that workers receive low wages and face continued job insecurity.