By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: Employees of the Swat district council held a protest camp here on Wednesday against the nonpayment of their salaries for the past three months.
The employees set up the camp in front of the district nazim’s office and also locked all offices of the local councils across the district.
The protesting employees said that they had been facing severe financial problems and unable to even arrange food for their families. They said that all the district council employees from scale 1 to 17 had not been paid their salaries for the past three months.
“Every employee is facing psychological problems as they have to borrow money from friends and relatives for managing their daily needs,” Local Government Employees Federation chairman Iqbal Hussain said. He said that they had no money even to pay the utility bills in time.
Faizullah Khan, an employee of the council, said that gas meter of his house was taken away and the connection blocked by SNGPL as he could not pay the gas bill for three consecutive months.
“For 10 days there was no gas in my house. I, then, borrowed money from some friends and cleared the dues after which they reinstalled the meter,” he said.
During the last meeting of the council, the elected representatives had demanded immediate provision of funds for salaries of the employees.
The employees have appealed to the KP government to intervene and ensure payment of their salaries immediately. District nazim Mohammad Ali Shah said that he was with the employees in their genuine demand. “The government must release their salaries immediately,” he said. When contacted, deputy commissioner Mehmood Aslam claimed that arrangements were being made to pay the salaries of the district council employees.
