More than 150 daily-wage Public Works Department workers in Spiti say they were simply told in July 2023 not to report for work, after year...

More than 150 daily-wage Public Works Department workers in Spiti say they were simply told in July 2023 not to report for work, after years of repairing link roads to remote villages such as Kibber, Langza, Rangrik and Shego. The first batch of 41 cases has now gone their way: the Himachal Pradesh Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court held that their termination was illegal, ordered reinstatement with continuity of service and seniority, and directed payment of back wages within three months of Gazette publication. The state published the awards in the Official Gazette on July 23, formally bringing them into effect, but the workers still have no appointment orders and the PWD says it has been advised to challenge the awards. Spiti's roads survive snow, landslides and freezing temperatures; its road workers, apparently, still have to survive the legal branch.