Demo ends over ‘assurance of jobs’

BAHAWALPUR/ LAHORE:

A group of visually-impaired people seeking public sector jobs called off their protest demonstration till Friday on receiving an assurance from the provincial government that written orders regarding their employment will be issued in three days, one of the protesters told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.

Riaz Ahmad said the assurance was given during a meeting between a delegation of visually-impaired people and Punjab government spokesperson Zaeem Qadri.

A Social Welfare Security Department public relations officer said the government had assured the visually-impaired protesters that orders for their employment against the quota for people with disabilities would be issued till Friday. She said jobs would be offered in line with the academic qualifications of the applicants.

Another visually-impaired person who identified himself just as Ahmad said that a three-member working committee would now be formed to prepare a list of unemployed visually-impaired persons, their academic qualifications and other relevant details.

He said that on Monday night a demonstration at Kalma Chowk had been ended after negotiations with a police team. He said the team had then made arrangements for the protesters to spend the night at Shah Taj Hotel near the City railway station.

Muhamamd Javed, a visually-impaired person, said 3,900 jobs (from grade 1-4) had been advertised for people with disabilities. Of the 1,600 recruited, 192 were visually-impaired and only 162 had hearing and speaking disabilities. The remaining were physically-disabled people, he said.

Separately, a demonstration was held by a group of visually-impaired persons in support of their demands in front of the Divisional Commissioner in Bahawalpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2016.