KARAK: Leaders of the United Workers Welfare Association have demanded of the oil and gas exploration companies to regularise the daily wagers and increase their salaries up to Rs15,000.

The demand was made by the association’s chairman Naveed Iqbal, general secretary Taj Mohammad and others while speaking at a meeting here on Monday.

They claimed that the last government had fixed Rs15,000 the monthly salary of a labourer, but the oil and gas companies were not following the decision. They said the government should bind the firms to follow its decisions.

They also demanded regularisation of the services of labourers as they had served in the companies for a long time. The labour union leaders resolved to organise protests if the companies failed to fix Rs15,000 salary.

OIL AND GAS ROYALTY: The elders of Latamber union council have regretted that they have been deprived of their share in oil and gas royalty funds for the uplift works.

They aired their grievances at a meeting on Monday organised by the Changhoz welfare society.

The elders said the union council was included administratively in Karak tehsil, but fell in the PK-86 constituency, which was not part of Karak tehsil, therefore, it had been kept deprived of share in royalty funds as rest of the union councils of the tehsil were part of the PK-85 constituency.

The speakers complained that the elected representatives of both the constituencies were not interested in giving royalty funds to Latamber.

They said roads from Rehmatabad to Latamber and from Latamber to Kamali Banda were in bad shape, adding the UC was also facing acute water shortage, forcing the residents to buy the commodity. The elders said water could be supplied to the union council from Changhoz dam on a gravity line.

They demanded of the government to release Rs150 million of royalty funds for the year 2018-19 to the union council without delay. They formed two committees to meet with the elected representatives to apprise them about their problems.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2019