PESHAWAR, Nov 11: The Class-IV Government Employees Association has urged the government to abolish the fixed pay policy for the employees of the education department.

Talking to Dawn, Sarfraz Khan, president of the class-IV Government Employees Association, said some 450 class-IV employees, who were employed under the fixed pay policy in Peshawar district, were not getting any allowances as they were not entitled to any allowance or government facility.

Last month, the association had threatened self-immolation by their members if its demands were not entertained. The government accepted some of its demands and adjusted a small number of employees from the surplus pool to other departments.

The association had called off its protest on the assurance of the government, but things were as same as it were before the protest drive, said an All Pakistan Clerks Association leader.

“There were three employees in the surplus pool in the education department and they were not paid their salaries for the last three months,” Sarfraz Khan said.

Their cases were presented to the District Coordination Officer (DCO), but they were still undecided as the DCO was on leave for three months.

“The cases of these class-IV employees should be recommended to some other officer for a speedy decision,” he said.

The employees and their families are going through a hard time. The class-IV employees association has demanded that the fixed pay policy should be abolished and an Eid allowance for the class IV employees should also be announced.

The association said it would observe a strike for the abolition of the fixed pay policy after Eid in case the government did not pay heed to its problems.

Speaking on the issue, District Nazim Azam Afridi said if the district government had the powers to regularize jobs of the class-IV employees, it would be done without wasting time. However, he said nobody had approached him in this regard.

The district government had not made fresh appointments and measures were being taken to absorb employees who were in the surplus pool, Azam Afridi added.

MEETING: The first meeting of the board of governors of the Captain Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College, Swabi, was held here on Tuesday.