Disgruntled workforce: TMA employees protest non-payment of salaries

With employees waiting to be paid for months, demonstrations held at Kutcheri Chowk and Tank.

DI KHAN:

The Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) staff union took to the streets on Tuesday to protest non-payment of salaries for the last four months. The demonstration, held at Kutcheri Chowk, was led by union President Qaisar Kamran.

The protest was directed towards the district and provincial government. Earlier on Monday, TMA staff union members gathered at the same place and chanted slogans against the district and provincial authorities over their failure to pay salaries. The protesters had warned of strikes in case their demands were not met.



Addressing participants on Tuesday, Kamran said more demonstrations and a hunger-strike camp will be organised in the next phase of protests. He added CMO Sohail Sadozai is to be held responsible for all the trouble faced by the TMA staff.

Kamran claimed that those who have relatives in the government and those who bribe the higher-ups are being paid regularly, but the poor are suffering. With TMA employees being deprived of salaries for the last four months, the union president said meeting daily household needs is becoming an uphill task.

Similar scenes in Tank

TMA staff in Tank also held a protest rally and a hunger strike against the non-payment of salaries for the last three months. A large number of employees accompanied by their families participated.

Before the hunger strike was held at a public park in Tank, protesters marched from Pir Sabar Shah’s mazaar to Tank’s DC office.

Participants on the occasion labelled the higher administration of the district administration incompetent. Non-payment of salaries had made it difficult for these families to pay their children’s tuition and utility bills, they claimed.

The protesters warned that the hunger strike camp will continue at the public park until salaries are paid.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2014.