ISLAMABAD: Following the protest of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA) Federal chapter, here on Tuesday, outside the Ministry of Finance, which also marched towards the Prime Minister (PM) House, the government has sought one week to resolve the demands of the employees.
The other day, the AGEGA announced of staging a protest demonstration outside the Ministry of Finance and taking the protest rally towards the PM office. Following the protest, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan approached the leaders of the employees to settle the issue through negotiations.
The leadership of the protesting employees accepted the offer and the minister assured them that the government will take their issues seriously and resolve them within a week.
According to Syed Mohammad Mehraj, media coordinator AGEGA, the government employees were forced by the government to take to the streets as the Ministry of Finance did not implement the February 11, 2021 agreement with the employees.
Mehraj said that the AGEGA representatives have once again started talks with the authorities but in case the demands are not being met the employees’ unions will have no option but to restart protest.
He said that the employees are facing serious problems owing to price hike of essential kitchen items, increase in utilities, petrol prices, and transportation costs but the government failed to implement the agreement signed with the government employees to increase their salaries on February 11, 2021.
He said that on February 11, 2021, a government negotiation committee headed by Minister for Defence Pervaiz Khattak has signed an agreement with the AGEGA of increasing 25 percent salaries, merging adhoc allowances in salaries, upgradation of scale one to 16 employees, time scale promotions and 25 percent increase in pensions by November 1.
The AGEGA has blamed the government for not implementing the agreement, therefore, the employees are all set to start a fresh protest drive on November 16.
Mehraj said that Rehman Bajwa, chief coordinator of the AGEGA and other senior union leaders as well as employees of the various government ministries and divisions participated in the protest.
The AGEGA members, while expressing serious concern over the skyrocketing inflation, stressed the need for the unity of all the public-sector employees.
They said that owing to the current situation and the government’s delaying tactics in implementing the agreement, protest has become inevitable.
The AGEGA chief said that if the Ministry of Finance did not implement the agreement, all the employees of the federal government as well as the provincial governments will take to streets as they did in February. They also demanded that contract employees be quickly regularised.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021