AJK electricity department: Lower staff continues protest for third day

Demand increase in pay structures and bringing facilities at par with those of Wapda employees.

MIRPUR:

For the third consecutive day of their protest, hundreds of non-gazetted technical staff members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Electricity Department boycotted offices.

They staged a sit-in to press the government to accept their demands, which include better pay structures and bringing facilities provided to them at par with the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) employees in Pakistan.

The protesters started a procession from the offices complex of the electricity department, rasing slogans against the AJK government.

Led by the senior vice president Non-gazetted Employees Organisation and president Technical Staff of the AJK Electricity Department, the protesters marched through the major streets of the city chanting slogans against the soaring prices of items of daily use.

They also raised slogans against the AJK authorities for failing to control inflation.

They demanded that the AJK government immediately accept their seven-point charter of demands.

Moreover, the protesters underlined that funds worth Rs1.30 billion were required for bringing the facilities provided to the AJK Electricity Department non-gazetted technical staff at par with the employees of Wapda.

People who visited the electricity department suffered due to the strike, as they had to return without having their complaints registered.

Protest over prolonged, unscheduled loadshedding

Meanwhile, power cuts in various parts of the AJK went up to 18 hours a day, bringing life in the state to a standstill.

Perturbed over the prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding, hundreds of people in Mirpur took to the streets on Friday.

Despite the recent announcement of Pakistan Electric Power Company about ending the loadshedding across the region, nothing has been done yet, said a protester.

The protesters marched through the main Bhimbher-Mirpur Sokasen Road, suspending traffic for hours.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2012.