Protest: Low-paid employees demand their rights

Boycott duties; threaten to go on indefinite strike.

MIRPUR:

Low-paid employees of Mirpur Electricity Department continued their strike for the second consecutive day on Friday and warned they would go on indefinite pen-down strike if their demands were not fulfilled by the April 4 deadline. 

The protesters wore black armbands in support of their demands and  boycotted their duties.

They threatened to besiege the offices of the chief engineer and superintendant engineer in case their demands were not accepted.

The protesters included non-gazetted officials, those from the technical cadre and clerks.

They were protesting against illegal induction of candidates to fill vacancies.

The protesting employees accused higher authorities of selecting the candidates because of their  political affiliations, denying deserving candidates the chance to avail the quota for jobless youth.

They accused Mirpur Superintendant Engineer Rafique Rana of forwarding a misleading report to the government regarding their reservations, omitting  their seven-point charter of demands.

Officials of the electricity department could not be reached despite repeated calls on their mobile phones.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2012.