Broken promises: Uncompensated drivers hold protest

After marchers’ exit, drivers being forced to pay for reloading containers on trucks.

ISLAMABAD:

Over 150 people staged a protest, on Friday, against the non-payment of compensation for containers promised by the capital police at D-Chowk.

Standing next to the containers, cursing the government for non-payment of compensation, truck drivers said the police had promised to pay them after the conclusion of the long march.

“SHO of Tarnol promised to pay us Rs3,000 per container per day,” said Muhammad Israr, a driver. He said the police also promised that they would be provided accommodation facilities and food.

“We have spent our own money on food,” he said and added that they were not even provided accommodation and were forced to sleep in their trucks.

Tarnol police forced us to park our containers, threatening us with heavy fines and impounding of our trucks in case we refused, Israr stated.

“We are here since last Tuesday,” said another driver Ghulam Muzaffar, who is from Rahimyar Khan. “We went to Tarnol police station but the police didn’t allow us to enter the premises.” The crane operator sent by the police for loading the containers on our trucks is demanding money for fuel, he added.

“The crane operator is demanding Rs500 apart from fuel which is completely unjust,” he said, adding that they were poor people who couldn’t even think of blocking the road. “The police can lock us up and involve us in fake cases,” he said.



He said he had to pay the truck’s owners and his children’s school fee. “If I have no money how will I fulfil the needs of my children and other family members?” Muzaffar said.

The crane’s driver who refused to give his name said he would not load the containers unless they refuelled the crane and paid the amount he was demanding.

“I was brought here with the promise that the drivers would refuel the crane as well as pay Rs500 per container,” he said. I’m also poor and can hardly affording to feed my family.

The drivers said they would not leave the area till they were compensated.

When contacted, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Bani Amin rejected the claims of truck drivers and said a crane had been sent for loading the containers and compensation would be paid once they have been removed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2013.