Thinking ‘dirty’: Unpaid workers to dump garbage outside CM House

Finance and planning director said that the administration has released the salary of grade 1-10 workers.


Our Correspondent August 05, 2013
"The KMC’s structure has collapsed. They have no money for repairing vehicles or purchasing fuel," KMC CBA union president Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:


Unpaid employees of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have decided to step up and stage a unique protest by dumping garbage outside Chief Minister House and on major thoroughfares, including Sharae Faisal, MA Jinnah Road and II Chundrigar Road, before Eid.


“The protest at these important places would highlight the cold-hearted attitude of the officials, as 73,000 workers of the KMC and district municipal corporations will have to celebrate Eid without any salary,” said KMC’s CBA union president, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

He said although the administration had released on Monday salaries for the month of April to the employees of Saddar division, the salaries of May to the employees of Lyari division, and the salaries of June to other district workers, the problem remained unresolved.



“This amount has been returned to people from whom workers took loans to run their houses during this time period. They have not been paid for four months, while salaries are only given for a month,” he lamented.

Shah said he would organise this protest before Eid, so that the government could feel the pain of workers and, should any untoward incident occur, the government would be responsible for it.

The finance and planning director, Munawar Imam, while talking to The Express Tribune said that the administration released the salary of grade 1-10 workers, but the problem would be solved when the bureaucratic hurdle is done away with.

Sanitation situation

Shah was of the view that the sanitation situation would worsen after the city receives another spell. “They lack the ability and will to handle an emergency situation. They are just making money using unfair means,” he alleged.

“The KMC’s structure has collapsed. They have no money for repairing vehicles or purchasing fuel,” he informed. He claimed, however, that the workers of the KMC have almost completed the cleanliness of nullahs.

Minority employees’ protest

The KMC’s minority workers also organised a token hunger strike at the KMC’s workshop, in which three female and four male workers participated.

They demanded that the government ensured the immediate release the salaries for the months of July and August, otherwise, they would continue the protest and not come back to duty on Eid day.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2013.

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