LARKANA - Complete pen-down strike was observed across Larkana district here on Monday on the call of Shah Lateef Local Government and All Pakistan Employees Federation, Sindh, for making payment of monthly salaries through existing online system as is paid to other Sindh government servants and resolution of other issues faced by them.
The employees held protest demonstrations in their respective offices, shouted slogans in favour of their demands by keeping sweeps and parking tractor-trolleys without discharging their official cleanliness duties.
Hafiz Mushtaque Ahmed Korejo, Provincial President of the Federation, Abdul Hadi Markhiyani, General Secretary, Zulfiqar Dahani, Nabi Bux Khoso, Hasnain Laghari and others said that offices were locked and no cleanliness work was made across Sindh as all employees including sanitation staff of municipal committees, town committees, union councils and municipal corporations joined the strike for which a call was issued on 29th November. They said complete strike was also observed in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Naushehroferoze, Moro, Dadu, Kandhkot @ Kashmore districts and elsewhere.
They said that their protest shall continue till their just demands are accepted by the provincial government which has kept us constantly on fake commitments. They said that neither sewerage drains were cleaned, nor cleanliness of streets and roads was carried out and no dumped garbage was lifted which will not be done either in the coming days till their demands are accepted and a notification is issued by the Sindh government. They said if the spread of garbage is creating problems for the citizens then the provincial government should be held responsible for hazardous environmental pollution.
They claimed that instead of Rs40,000, employees are given Rs10,000 as monthly salary which is high-handedness and injustice with the poor local bodies department employees which cannot be tolerated anymore in this massive price hike era which has broken the back of the masses. They said illegal deduction of employees’ salaries is made from 93 percent union councils of Sindh due to which poor government servants have been economically destroyed. They said since the past five years they have been demanding salaries through the existing online system but nobody paid any heed to our justified demand due to which many employees have already died under miserable conditions and others are facing starvation.
They said they will not resume their work until proper notification is issued and handed over to us. They once again demanded salaries through the online system because, they argued, when all are equal in the eye of law then why they have been discriminated against.
Meanwhile, heaps of garbage were seen unlifted at dumping places in the entire Larkana city, Ratodero, Naundero and elsewhere which was not removed due to the strike by the local bodies employees causing bad smell and highly polluted atmosphere.