MULTAN, Aug 12: Workers of the Multan Municipal Corporation (MMC) will observe the Independence Day as the ‘day of mourning’ if they are not paid salaries by Aug 14.

This was announced by the Municipal Employees Welfare Union (CBA) here on Monday in a meeting attended by representatives of various wings of the corporation. The meeting was presided over by union president Malik Manzoor Husain.

Addressing the meeting, union secretary-general Javed Iqbal said as application was moved to the labour department on Aug 7 for the redressal of problems of the MMC staff, including belated payment of their salaries.

He said the labour department authorities summoned Multan city tehsil Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar and representatives of the MMC to resolve the issue on Monday. But, the Nazim did not turn up at the meeting. Hundreds of corporation workers had gathered to see whether their problems had been resolved.

Mr Iqbal said the labour department had summoned both the parties on Aug 13 again to settle the issues, especially of the payment of salaries.

He said if the corporation did not pay the salaries to its 1,900 sanitary workers before the independence day, the union would organize a protest rally on Aug 14 when the city Nazim would be the chief guest at the flag-hoisting ceremony.

It was decided in the meeting that the corporation workers would observe holiday on Aug 14 in defiance of the official orders.

“We will do this in protest against the MMC high ups who draw their salaries on the first of every month but withhold workers salaries up to the second or third week of the month,” they added.

It may be noted that it has rather become a routine on the part of city tehsil administration to delay payments of salaries to the low-grade staff of the MMC since the introduction of the new local bodies system under the devolution plan last year.

MA RESULTS: The Bahauddin Zakariya University has declared the results of the part-I examinations of MA History and Persian on Monday.