KARACHI: People suffered immensely on Monday, the eve of Ramazan, as three roads were blocked by the administration with shipping containers to prevent protesting nurses from marching toward Chief Minister’s House to press for the acceptance of their demands, officials and witnesses said.

The prolonged traffic jam, which caused agony and hardship to the commuters for a considerably long time, prompted the health authorities and the commissioner of Karachi to hold talks with the protesting nurses and an understanding was reached that their problems would be addressed within 10 days. Subsequently, the nurses ended their protest outside the Karachi Press Club.

Both male and female nurses had been protesting outside the KPC for the last several days. On Monday, they announced that they would hold a demonstration outside CM House. However, the authorities had already placed containers on three roads — Maulana Deen Mohammed Wafai Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road and Aiwan-i-Saddar Road.

A senior police officer told Dawn that the containers were placed at around 1pm, which were removed after two hours at 3pm, when the protesting nurses dispersed.

The blockade of the three major roads in South district by placing containers caused agonising traffic jams whose impact was felt far away on main Abdullah Haroon Road, Sharea Faisal, New Preedy Street and other arteries, where the commuters remained struck for a long time.

Nurses disperse after assurance from the authorities about their demands

South Zone DIG Sharjeel Kharal said: “We feel sorry that the public has suffered inconvenience.” However, he added, it was their top responsibility to “secure” CM House and Governor House by preventing rallies from entering the red zone.

As several male and female nurses tried to move towards CM House and removed the barriers near the KPC, the police persuaded them to disperse and to hold talks with health and civil administration officials for the redress of their grievances.

The DIG South said it was the responsibility of the relevant departments and civil administration to deal with such issues and the police helped arrange their meeting with the officials concerned.

Mr Kharal recalled that when five days back the nurses had tried to hold a demonstration outside CM House, the police had facilitated their meeting with the commissioner of Karachi and health officials where senior police and district officials were also present.

“A commitment was made to the protesting nurses that their demands would be fulfilled but they did not wait for a few days and on Monday tried to move towards CM House,” he said.

The DIG said the protesting nurses dispersed peacefully, no case was registered against them and they arranged their meeting with the authorities concerned, which resulted in successful talks between them.

In the wake of protests by the nursing association, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, the health secretary and representatives of the Sindh Nursing Association, Atta Hussain Rajpar, and others held negotiations in the evening in which several points were agreed upon, said an official familiar with the development.

As per the copy of the agreement obtained by Dawn, it was decided that a four-tier formula prepared in consultation with representatives of the nursing staff would be expedited for its approval by the competent authority “within 10 days” and later it would be notified.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2019