The government employees, working in different state institutions, held a protest at D-Chowk Islamabad on Friday, making a number of demands and rejecting the recent increment of 15% in the salaries as a disparity allowance.
According to details, the employees of Railways, Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Education Department Balochistan, and Hydro Union staged a protest against the government. They were of the view that the government was trying to divert attention from their demands by giving a raise of only 15 percent.
The protestors said that the government was not paying even the basic wage of Rs. 20,000 to employees of its own institutions. They said the government was a ‘hypocrite’ and did not keep its promises.
They expressed their dismay that a large number of employees were desperate as despite working for many years, they were not being regularized. He said numerous employees had been working on contract, ad hoc, or contingency for the last eight to 20 years, but were not being regularized. He said the protestors wanted regularization of all the employees working on contract, ad hoc basis, contingency, or daily wages.
Addressing the occasion, Chairman IESCO Workers Association, Samiullah said the privatization of state-owned enterprises was not acceptable at any cost. He said the government was considering privatizing power distribution companies under the International Monetary Fund program.
He observed that many state institutions were short of employees and were lacking funds, and there was no timely promotion anywhere. He said the government was hiding its inability to introduce reforms in any institution.
He criticized the WAPDA, Post Office, Federal Government Educational Institutions, Tourism Development, PIA, Railways are under the government’s policy to privatize. The government should be aware that only a 15 percent salary increase is not enough to make us permanent and introduce reforms in the institutions.
Female teachers were also present in the protest. They demanded promotions of female teachers. The government should come out of the clutches of IMF and end the shortage of salaries, promotions, and employees in government institutions, they emphasized.