SHANGLA: Government employees in Shangla staged a protest against the prevailing government policies of not increasing salaries and imposing taxes on the government employees.
The protest was called by the all government employees coordination council, Shangla at district headquarters, Alpuri on Tuesday. School teachers, health, and other departments employees took part in the protest.
Protesters also marched in Alpuri bazaar while carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands and slogans against the incumbent government.
Sultan Sikandar, Iftikhar Ali the office bearers of all government employees coordination councils and grand alliance led the protest, while employees of the different departments spoke to the protesters.
Addressing the protesters, Sultan Sikandar said that the incumbent government had put the government employees into the financial problem as it implementing the International monetary fund’s agenda.
He said, on the one hand, the government was increasing rates of daily use items particularly the grocery and on the other cutting salaries instead of increasing yearly as the excessive governments did.
“We want time scale for all government employees, allowances for government employees, abolishing of contract-based jobs and permanent employment for contract-based employees and 100 percent increment in the salaries proportion to the current inflation,” he shared the charter of demand.
He said to end the IMF influence in all the government sector departments causing financial problems to the government servants, workers and government should clear the future of government employees especially about the pension-related things as they heard about the abolition of the pension policy.
Iftkikhar Ali, said that government employees were the only class in the society that serve the nation but the incumbent government was degrading them.
He said, in the prevailing inflation period lower scale employees can not manage to feed their families as they work on Rs 15000 per month which was extremely insufficient to buy ration for the whole month and medicines.
He urged the government to reconsider their proposed and devised policies regarding the government employees for the sake of their families and lives so that they not force to commit suicide.
The protesters dispersed peacefully while announcing the holding of sit-in on October, 06 at Islamabad.
Afzal Khamosh, Aftab Alezai, Rhabar Ali, Islam Yousafzai, and others also spoke on the occasion.
