Contractual employees stage rally for regularisation

SUKKUR: Hundreds of contractual employees of Sindh irrigation department on Tuesday staged a protest rally from Hyderabad to the Chief Minister House Khairpur to press the provincial government to regularise them, announcing a sit-in on November 25 in Karachi if their demands are not met.
All Sindh Irrigation Muttahida Federation organised the rally, led by its president Allah Bakhash Dhamrah and others, to push the provincial authority to accept its charter of demands, including son quota, time scale and regularisation of 10,000 contracted employees.
The protesting employees said they will block Sindh-Punjab border near Kamu Shaheed and stage a sit-in outside the CM house Karachi on 25 November (Wednesday) if the government doesn’t pay heed to their demands.
A protestor Abdul Rahim Bharo said irrigation department’s employees played a key role in averting the impact of this year’s floods, which were similar to the super flood of 2010, by rendering hectic efforts day and night.
“Nevertheless, Sindh government and Irrigation high-ups ignored the poor employees and denied them of their legitimate rights,” Bharo said. He said 10,000 contractual employees have been performing their duties on contract basis at lower salaries since long time, “but government as well as irrigation department are reluctant to regularise them.”
“The employees will continue their struggle till the acceptance of their demands,” he added. The organisers said Secretary Irrigation Zaheer Haider Shah had accepted 19 demands and inked agreement on 12 May, 2015 but later he backtracked from his commitment and never issued a notification.
They alleged that some irrigation officers have occupied thousands of acres of the department’s lands from Guddo to Kotri barrages and are involved in multibillion rupees of corruption and misappropriation of development scheme and maintenance and repair budgets.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Khairpur Munawar Mithani met with the protesting employees and phoned the Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah from the spot to inform him about the demands of the employees. CM Shah assured them that their genuine demands will be met in the first week of November.