Srinagar: Civil Secretariat employees on the first day of Darbar move here boycotted the reopening ceremony as a mark of protest against the non-fulfillment of their long pending demands.

The employees of the Civil Secretariat here in Srinagar boycotted the reopening ceremony and were seen wearing black bands and black dresses.

Vice Chairman of the J&K Civil Secretariat Employees Coordination Committee (J&KCSCC) Maqbool Hussain said that this was the first time in the history that the employees boycotted the opening ceremony.

“We boycotted the reopening of Darbar as a mark of protest to press the government for resolving their long pending demands,” Hussain said.

Suresh Bedi vice president of Civil Secretariat Employees Association, one of the four associations of J&KCSCC, said that this is for the first time that employees boycotted the opening ceremony.  “The other three associations include J&K Civil Secretariat Lower Grade employees Union, J&K Non-Gazetted Economics and Statistics Employees Union and J&K Legislative Assembly Employees Union”.

In all previous opening ceremonies, the employees’ leaders were welcoming the heads of the state, Chief Secretary and other state heads with flower bouquets but this time not a single employee attended the ceremony, Bedi said.

The employees straightway went inside the Secretariat premises and attended the offices. Most of the employees headed by the coordination committee were seen wearing black bands and black dresses, he added