PESHAWAR - Activists of Paramedical Staff Association, Peshawar chapter, Wednesday staged a protest demonstration against the government for not releasing their salaries for the last four months.
The protesters spearheaded by PSA Peshawar President Anwar Khan, General Secretary Syed Mubarak Shah, Vice President Asfandyar Khan, EPI Technicians President Malik Qamar, Ayesha Asmat, provincial president (female), Sadaqat and Qazi Musarat along with dozen of paramedical employees gathered outside Peshawar Press Club. They were holding placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands.
Talking to media persons on the occasion, the protesting paramedics said that despite security threats and hot weather, a special measles vaccination campaign was made successful in May across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But the authorities concerned, they alleged, have failed to release their salaries despite lapse of four months.
Owing to the non-serious attitude of the government and authorities concerned, the protesting paramedics said, they were being faced with immense difficulties due to financial problems and hardly fulfilling their daily expenses in the present circumstances. They also said that they also approached the deputy commissioner Peshawar and deputy director EPI programme but to no avail. Therefore, they resorted to hold protest against the authorities concerned.
The infuriated paramedics threatened if their salaries were not released immediately then the protest campaign would be extended to other parts of the province.
UoP regional office in Attock demanded: Muhammad Sabrin from Attock adds, students from different government colleges have demanded establishment of regional office of University of Punjab (UoP) at Attock.
Students while talking to this scribe said that University of Punjab, Lahore, was established before partition of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. They said the people nowadays are aware of higher education and thousands of students appear for graduation and post-graduation examinations across the Punjab. They said they have to travel hundreds of kilometres to reach Lahore for any query related to their examinations. This practice causes inconvenience, wastage of time and money, they added.
They said that former Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool had announced establishment of regional office of University of Punjab during his visit to Attock. Due to unknown reasons announcement could not be materialised, they added. They requested Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad to take up this issue with the concerned authorities so that students of Attock and adjoining areas could be facilitated.