HARIPUR, Oct 21: Dozens of workers of a pharmaceutical company on Saturday blocked the Rawalpindi-Abbottabad road to protest against delay in payment of their salaries by the factory administration.

However, police managed to clear the road after subjecting the protesting women and men to baton-charge, eyewitnesses and protestors said.

They said that about 150 workers, including more than 40 women, boycotted the production at Shahzeb Pharmaceutical Industry Sera-e-Gadai to protest against delay in payment of their salaries.

They marched up to the Rawalpindi-Abbottabad road where women staged a sit-in, blocking vehhicular traffic for about 30 minutes.

A heavy contingent of the Kotnajibullah police station headed by SHO Aziz Khan, reached the site and resorted to baton-charge, leaving a number of women bruised and injured.

“Police held our legs and plaits and dragged us off the road in a very shameful way,” said Tahira Bibi, one of the protestors, adding that police beat them with clubs and kicks.

She said that she had been working in the factory for many years and had not been paid salary for the last seven months.

Sosan Jan, another elderly woman whose three daughters serve in the factory, told journalists that for last several months she had been unable to pay rent of their house and facing problems in running the kitchen expenditures as the factory owner did not pay salaries of her daughters.

Rabia, another worker, said she had not been paid for last five months and owner of the vehicle on which she travelled to factory had refused to pick her and demanded settlement of his outstanding dues.

Imran, a contract worker at the factory, said that the factory management owed him Rs25000 salary of months.

Another workers of administration branch, who requested anonymity, said that he had Rs180000 outstanding dues against the factory.

He said the factory management neither issued them EOBI cards nor got them registered with the Social Security department.

The management made them work for 12 hours against Rs3000 per month, recently raised from Rs1800 per month, while the government had fixed Rs4000 minimum wages for contract workers.