DNA
CHITRAL, Aug 09 : The strike of Tehsil Municipal Administration Chitral entered the 10th day against non-payment of salaries for the last 6 months. Due to the strike, the Women and Children Hospital in Chitral, District Headquarters Hospital, Shahi Masjid Road, Ataliq Chowk and various bazaars and markets turned into piles of dirt and garbage.
The TMA staff also locked the Tehsil Municipal Officer’s office and staged a sit-in in front of the office. Umar Atiq an employee of TMA said that he had been working in TMA for the last 13 years and they were not getting salaries for the last six months.
He said that he and many of his colleagues did not buy new clothes and shoes for their children on the Eid ul Fitr, Eid ul Azha.
TMA supervisor Zar Bahadur Khan said that they had taken edible items from shopkeepers on loan and now they avoid passing through this road because the shopkeepers were demanding their loan.
He deplored that the TMA employees were on strike for the last ten days, but neither the Deputy Commissioner nor the Assistant Commissioners or any other responsible person of the government came to them.
He said that if their genuine demand was not fulfilled, they would extend the protest to streets and roads besides suspending the supply of drinking water to the people.
On this occasion, some political activists and the lawyers’ community also visited the strike camp and expressed solidarity with the TMA staff.
When contacted by Tehsil Municipal Officer Muhammad Hanif, he said that he has written a letter to the higher authorities to release the salary of these employees.
He said that more than 150 employees were recruited in TMA Chitral on a political basis and many of them were not working and getting salaries at home, adding that TMA had dismissed 70 such ghost employees on the instructions of the provincial government.
