Railways employees continued their protest on Monday to press the railway administration for payment of their salaries and restoration of gas and electricity connections. Protest demonstration arranged by 'Railway Mazdoor Ittehad' resulted in the stoppage of train service and no train could leave the Lahore Railway Stations after 12:00 noon till the filing of this report.
Frustrated and enraged employees did not allow any railway engines to come out of the engine shed by lying down in front of them. The employees also blocked the traffic on Garhi Shahu overhead bridge by burning tyres. Due to their protest, traffic remained blocked for two hours and people faced lot of hardships. Railway employees are protesting peacefully for last four days in favour of their demands.
Passengers wishing to travel through train also faced lot of hardships due to the protest of railway employees as railway Mazdoor Ittehad locked the gate of loco shed due to which no locomotive could come out of the shed. Passengers of Allama Iqbal expressed that they suffered a lot as its locomotive had to be changed at Lahore while coming from Karachi on its way to Sialkot.
Protest employees raised voice against deduction of electricity and gas bills from their salaries and not paying further to the utility companies due to which their gas and electricity supply was disconnected by the utility companies. They said that there was no justification of deducting the gas and electricity bills from their salaries if there is no supply of gas or electricity to the railway employee colonies.
According to Railway Mazdoor Ittehad, similar sort of demonstrations was arranged in Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Rohri, Rawalpindi and other stations. Railway employees announced to continue their protest demonstrations till the acceptance of their demand. According to a railway official, divisional authorities are in the process of negotiation with the protesting employees to normalise the situation.
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