Jammu, Feb 17: The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Tuesday informed the Legislative Assembly that a total of 1,00,501 casual labourers, daily rated workers and other categories of employees have been formally registered across departments through Aadhaar-based biometric verification and skill profiling.
The disclosure was made in a written reply during the ongoing Budget Session in response to starred questions regarding the long-pending demand for regularization of workers engaged for over 20 years.
As per official data tabled in the House, the registered workforce includes 69,696 casual labourers, 8,534 seasonal labourers, 8,836 daily rated/work charged employees, 3,092 part-time workers, 156 CIC operators, 5,757 NYC hamals/drivers in the FCS&CA Department, 1,929 workers engaged under the Hospital Development Fund, 2,153 part-time sweepers and 348 settlement assistants in the Revenue Department.
Region-wise breakup shows 57,390 workers from the Kashmir division and 40,077 from the Jammu division.
Among departments, the highest number of engagements is in PHE/I&FC (38,585), followed by the Power Development Department (13,616), Education (12,646), Forest (8,317) and Public Works (R&B) (6,801).
The Government said a high-level Committee, constituted under Government Order No. 384-JK(GAD) of 2025 and headed by the Chief Secretary, is examining the issue. The panel is assessing legal, financial and administrative implications, including compliance with constitutional provisions and court rulings, before recommending a comprehensive roadmap for regularization.
