Unpaid salaries: Sanitation staff in Tank goes on protest

In the past three days, garbage has piled around the city, creating problems for residents and imparting foul odour.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

Hundreds of sanitary workers, unpaid for the last two months, continued their protest third day running in Tank on Thursday.

They gathered outside the Tehsil Municipal Committee office, passing through different markets, stopped at Kashmir Chowk and blocked the road linking Dera Ismail Khan and South Waziristan.

Sweepers Union President Sher Zaman Sheri, Vice President Irshad Khan and General Secretary Farooq Khan addressed the gathering. The protesters held placards and chanted slogans against the district government.

Sheri said they were forced to come out on the roads because there is no food in their homes. “We cannot pay the school fees of our children,” he said. He demanded that the provincial government take immediate notice of the issue and release their salaries.



The protesters also held a rally in front of the office of District Coordination Officer and chanted slogans against his failure to arrange for salaries on time. Khan said that the government has provided a grant, but even then the salaries are being delayed.

In the past three days, garbage has piled around the city, creating problems for the residents and imparting foul odour.

An official said they have Rs3 million in the account, while the salaries amount to Rs5 million. “Until we get the remaining funds, we cannot pay the salaries,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2013.