Staff protest causes closure of govt offices, schools

Protesters vow not to relent until demands on pension regulation, energy bills are met

RAWALPINDI:

Provincial government employees of at least 22 departments and agencies – ranging from teachers to clerks to pensioners – took part in a large protest that turned into a rally, bringing work to a standstill at government offices and schools and disrupting traffic on key avenues in Rawalpindi Monday.

The issues were also varied with the more than thousand protesters extremely vociferous in their demand for the reversal in the recent changes to pension and retirement regulations, including leave encashment, of Punjab government employees.

They also protested against the latest fuel price hike which has seen petrol and diesel prices cost more than Rs300 per litre. They also protested against the privatization of government institutions, failure to provide land for government schools, as well as the runaway inflation and recent increase in electricity tariffs that has seen bills go through the roof.

Gridlock

Government schools and offices were closed as part of the strike, with demonstrators gathering at the Gordon College, from where it turned into a rally. The protesters moved towards Murree Road via Liaquat Road and threatened to encircle the Islamabad and Punjab secretariats if their demands weren’t met.

The numbers continued to swell through the day, with the protests continuing from as early as 11am till 5pm.

It disrupted traffic all the way till Kutcheri Road and brought traffic to a standstill on Murree Road and Liaquat Road as well. It also affected economic activities in the area, with people unable to access markets or avoiding the area altogether due to the gridlock.

A sizable contingent of police was remained on standby on Murree Road and Liaquat Bagh, but thye did not intervene.

Around 3pm, the government workers began to disperse, and by the protest ended by 5pm.

Pension regulation

As per the new changes to pension regulation, the government employees' leave preparatory to retirement (LPR) and gratuity under the Punjab Civil Servants Act 1974 were reduced to half of the existing level, said the protesters.

The protesters said this amendment would reduce the pension of each employee by Rs.1.5 million.

Rana Liaquat Ali, a member of a collective of protesting teachers, said that the changes included leave encashment being based on ‘basic salary’ as opposed to ‘running salary’.

The basic salary at which a government servant is hired is increased every year. The increased basic salary is referred to ‘running salary’, explained Ali. Government employees are allowed to encash a maximum of 365 days of leave, if pending, when at retirement, he continued. “Under the new rules, we will be paid benefits according to salary at which we joined, disregarding the years of promotions and increments that it constitutes at retirement and is referred to as running salary,” he continued.

He clarified that other allowances such as housing, allowance, health, etc., were separate from this basic and running salary and were not factored in for the calculations.

Liaquat continued that the benefits had been slashed in other ways as well. “Those who retired two months ago did so according to previous rules,” he said. We contend that this change is discriminatory and should not be applicable to public servants hired before its notification.”

The protesters also spoke against government plans to privatise educational institutions while calling for recruitment on vacant positions. They also called for regularization of contractual workers and provision of land to patwaris (village accountant).

Shut down

A large number of teachers and administrators of government schools were part of the protest. As a result, the schools were shut across the district. Protesters said that the students were allowed to leave in the morning.

The offices of various departments in the district also stayed shut including those of union councils.

The process of issuing birth and death certificates was suspended as the offices of the UC secretaries were closed.

Services were also suspended at public hospitals and laboratories.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2023.