Clean and green: Municipal workers to launch protests

Criticise K-P govt’s move of giving away cleanliness project on contract.

PESHAWAR:

Around 336 seats of 44 union councils in Municipal Corporation Peshawar have been lying vacant since a while, affecting cleanliness in different parts of the city.

Municipal workers have criticised the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s move of giving away the cleanliness project of the city on contract and demanded golden handshakes on retirement.

United Municipal Workers Union Chairman Malik Muhammad Naveed told The Express Tribune workers have planned to launch protests in Peshawar against the 298 appointments allegedly being made on political grounds.



Naveed said they will put up banners and placards outside government offices against the move to award contracts. He added further protests will continue in the coming year, in which hunger strikes and rallies will also be held. Naveed said all these decisions were made during a meeting of the union on Tuesday.

However, MPA Azeem Ghauri has assured the municipal workers of raising their issues in the K-P Assembly. Naveed said the MPA also backed their demand of retiring around 1,200 employees in the city through a golden handshake. “We have now been working for the past 20 to 25 years. The government needs to follow the policies pursued for the employees of other departments,” added Naveed.

He claimed political workers of ruling parties, especially at the union council level, were still yielding influence over their work.



An administrator of the municipal corporation, while requesting anonymity, said the government’s contract move will not disturb the employees’ pension and service structure. “The government has launched a Clean and Green Peshawar project and these employees were not ready to give their full time, which is not acceptable,” he added.

He claimed the government will provide 22% extra allowance to employees performing their duties honestly. “The government might agree to their demand for retirement if they are hesitant to work, and will hire fresh and dedicated workers instead,” he added.

Despite repeated attempts, Chief Municipal Officer Javed Amjad could not be reached for comments.

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