Baton charge pays off: Govt concedes to WM protestors’ demands

The Baloch Hal

QUETTA: Police baton charged members of the Balochistan Water Management Employees and Officers Association on Monday when they tried to protest in front of the Balochistan Assembly to press the government to regularize around 1500 contractual workers.

The contractual workers of the Water Management department had been observing a hunger strike camp in front of Quetta Press Club for the past 203 days to press the government to meet their demands. They are asking the government to regularize some 1500 employees as the duration of the project is likely to end this year.

They started a long march from Western Bypass and chanted slogans in support of their demands.

Chairman of Balochistan Water Management Employees and officers’ Association Atta Mohammad Taraki led the protest rally while it was also joined by former president of National Party Dr. Abdul Hayee Baloch and central information secretary of Balochistan National Party (BNP) Agha Hassan Baloch.

Protestors and the police scuffled at General Post Office (GPO) chowk on Zarghon Raod when the police wanted to prevent them from going in front of the Balochistan Assembly. Police baton charged the protestors in order to disperse them. However, they still managed to go in front of the Assembly building when the session was taking place.

The protestors said the government had initiated a process of giving new jobs to the people of Balochistan but was not willing to regularize 1500 people who had been hired on contract in Water Management project. Their salaries have been stopped for the last six months which has plunged them in severe economic conditions. The protest rally was joined by employees of Water Management project from Quetta, Naseerabad, Mastung, Pishin, Loralai, Kharan, Harnai and several other districts of Balochistan.

Provincial ministers Mir Asadullah Baloch, Abdul Khaliq Bashar Dost, Saleem Khosa, Zafarullah Zehri, Zumurak Khan Achakzai and Younas Mullazai met the protestors and assured to meet their demands to be hired on regular basis.

Speaking to the protestors, Balochistan’s minister for agriculture and the secretary general of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Awami) Mir Asadullah Baloch said the process of giving jobs under the recently announced Balochistan package would begin from regularizing all the contractual workers of the Water Management program. Without meeting the demands of experienced workers and providing jobs to them, the Balochistan package would be meaningless for the people of the province.

The minister said if the protesting workers were not regularized, they would reject the Balochistan Package.

” On the basis of recommendations made by a committee that looked into the matter of regularization of contractual workers of the Water Management project, I have given my approval as the Agriculture Minister. The finance department has also endorsed the recommendations. Now, we await the decision of Balochistan cabinet on the matter. In fact, all parties in the coalition government fully back the regularization of the employees of the water management project,” he said, adding that the meeting of so many ministers at one time with the protestors should be considered as the formal official approval of their demands/.