LARKANA, Dec 2: Routine work at 50 rice mills came to a halt when a large number of factory workers after boycotting assignments took out a procession and staged a sit-in at the main gate of Sindh Small Industries Estate (SSIE) here on Monday to demand raise in their wages.

The two-hour sit-in suspended the flow of vehicular traffic on the Indus Highway and queues of vehicles were witnessed on the roads.

The leaders of Rice Factories Labour Union, Aziz Abbasi, Qadir Kurd, Gul Muhammed Baloch and others led the procession which began from Shaikh Zayed Hospital chowk. Carrying banners and placards, the participants chanting slogans against the rice mills owners gathered at the entrance of SSIE.

Addressing the protesters, the union leaders alleged that for three months, they had been calling for 40 per cent raise in the exiting daily wages and other salaries, but the millers had declined to meet that genuine demand of the workers.

The millers were openly violating the 1968’s minimum wage act and 1934’s factory act. Instead of accepting the demands, the millers were forcing them to resume jobs, they said.

Aziz Abbasi, central general secretary of Watan Dost Mazdoor Federation, said Larkana DSP Yar Muhammed Rind and Mukhtiarkar had intervened and asked for ending the protest

They also talked to Qamarudin Gopang, central president of Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers Association, for settling the issue, he said.

They called off the sit-in on the assurance that talks would be held on the issue in the presence of the commissioner and deputy commissioners of Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot on their return from Karachi within a couple of days.

Labourers under the umbrella of the All Mills Labour Union took out a rally in Jacobabad on Monday in protest against inflation and increase in prices of daily use items including flour, vegetables and other items, adds our Sukkur correspondent.

According to reports, the labourers started their march from Anaj Mandi carrying red flags in their hands and reached in front of the local press club where they started beating their chests to mark their protest against the inflation.

Speaking on the occasion, All Mills Labour Union president Haji Mashooq Ali Kharani said the inflation was increasing day by day in the country, including Jacobabad, due to which it was very difficult for the poor labourers to have two square meals while the labour charges were not being increased.

He demanded of the authorities concerned to control the inflation, decrease the prices of daily use items and increase labour charges.