On fourth day of their strike against pending wages, PHE casual laborers were joined by their children to press for resolution of their demands.
Hundreds of PHE casual labourers on Thursday assembled atPratap Park demanding wages, regularisation and amendment in SRO-520 amongother demands.
“We are at the verge of starvation. For the past 18 monthswe are without salaries. Our kids have been struck off the rolls as we failedto pay their fees. Ironically, government has failed to release our pendingwages,” said Sajad Ahmed Parry, president, casual laborers association.
“We have been moving from pillar to post for regularizationand amendment in SRO-520 that was promised to us. Other than hollow promises,we got nothing,” he said.
Wearing school uniform, the children of daily wagers threwbooks out of schools bags to highlight their plight. “We are forced to leaveschools as we have not paid tuition fee from past 18 months,” said Asif, astudent, who was part of protest.
“Our new session hasstarted and we are yet to deposit fees. Children of senior officials arestudying abroad and in elite schools, how will they understand what we gothrough on daily basis,” said Syed Mantasha, one of a protesting student.
The protesting employees said that they had already lockeddown most of the offices of PHE and if any concrete steps are not takenregarding their demands they will be left with no option than taking extremesteps.
Employee’s joint action committee president Fayaz AhmadShabnam has also urged authorities to release wages of daily-rated workersforthwith.