PESHAWAR: Engineers working in government departments all over the province on Monday went on a pen-down strike to push the authorities for upgrading their posts, offering them professional allowance and allowing them a private practice.

Hundreds of engineers working in the local government, communication and works, irrigation, public health engineering, housing and several other departments turned up at the civil secretariat here on the call of the KP Association of Government Engineers to press the authorities for their demands.

The engineers from all over the province travelled to Peshawar and staged a sit-in in the courtyard of the CW and irrigation departments’ complex at the civil secretariat.

The sit-in began at around 10am and was attended by a large number of engineers, who wore black armbands and shouted slogans in favour of their demands.

It continued until 3pm when the protesters marched on the Khyber Road to lodge their protest outside the provincial assembly. They later returned to continue the sit-in. Addressing protesters, engineers from various departments vowed to continue their protest until the acceptance of their demands.

Say won’t resume work until posts upgraded and given professional allowance, private practice permission

Engineer Ijaz Afzal, a representative of the LG department, said he was confident that the strike would achieve all objectives. He said the engineers were not even getting the hard-area allowance, which was offered to their counterparts in other departments.

Mr Ijaz s said if the engineers stopped their work, the residents of the Chief Minister’s House and Governor’s House and localities like Hayatabad would realise their importance.

“Engineers ensure provision of your daily water, electricity and other amenities,” he said.

Sahibzada Shabbir, a representative of the irrigation department, criticised the administrative secretaries of four departments including LG, C&W, PHE and irrigation departments and sitting in the same complex for not expressing their solidarity with their subordinate engineers in these departments and instead attended other meetings.

He asked protesters to not go home and instead spend night at the sit-in venue.

Engineer Shakir Habib, president of KP Association of Government Engineers, told Dawn that engineers working in almost all the government departments were taking part in the protest.

He said all executive engineers from all districts of the province and divisions were present in the provincial capital until the acceptance of their demands.

“Our pen-down strike is for indefinite period and will continue until our demands are met,” he said.

Mr Habib said the upgradation of engineer posts was their foremost demand as the KP government allowed had allowed the same to several cadres of government employees.

“They (government) upgraded all employees from clerks to professors but are denying the same to their cadre,” he said.

He said the government allowed professional allowance to employees of health departments, civil servants and other cadres but engineers, who formed the backbone of the administrative machinery, were denied the allowance.

“We are also demanding quota for B-Tech engineers in the BS-17 posts, which was in violation of the Pakistan Engineering Council Act. Also engineers call for permission for private practice on the pattern of doctors. Currently only those with connections manage to get private practice permission but they want that all of them be allowed to do so like doctors,” he said.

He said minister Mehmood Khan had contacted them regarding their demands and assured them that he would bring the issue to the chief minister’s notice on his return from Mardan late in the evening.

He said senior minister Inayatullah Khan had also promised support for the engineers’ demands.

The sit-in was in progress until the filing of this report.

Information minister Shah Farman and sports minister Mehmood Khan were not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2018