LAHORE - Street protest of more than 400 sacked teachers and non-teaching employees of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) entered into second day on Friday.
A couple of weeks ago, the Evacuee Trust Property Board secretary assured the protesters that their problems would be resolved within 15 days. As the deadline ended, the fired staffers opted to stage a sit-in in front of the Punjab Assembly.
Sources said that the Chairman ETPB was not in Lahore while Vice Chairman has informed on the gravity of the issue but since the Chairman was in Islamabad it could not be decided yet.
The demonstrators stated that they were not being paid salaries for the past two months and that the Evacuee Trust Property Board management has decided to terminate them. On Friday angry protesters holding banners and placards, were chanting slogans against Secretary, ETPB Junaid Ahmad and held him responsible for their termination.
Protesters threatened to continue with the sit-in till the acceptance of their demands.  Till the filing of this report, the protesters were present at Chairing Cross.
Sources said the Evacuee Trust Property Board accounts department raised objection to the recruitment of employees, including staff of Ayesha Degree College, Nicolson Road; Nawaz Sharif Model Girls High School, Nicolson Road; Benazir Bhutto High School, Badami Bagh; and Dr Matin Fatima Girls High School, Shahdra.
Most of the protesters has been working without salaries for last few months, said the sources, adding that some sacked staffers’ service spanned 18 years.