FAISALABAD: Hundreds of daily-wage employees of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) staged a protest demonstration against the agency for terminating them without any justification.

On Tuesday, Wasa had issued a common termination letter to the employees. The notification issued by the administration director read: “In view of paucity of funds and severe financial crunch being faced by the agency, all work-charged/daily wage employees of Wasa Faisalabad are hereby terminated with immediate effect.”

Talking to reporters, the protesters claimed that the administration had terminated about 800 employees with a single stroke of a pen. Before coming to power, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had claimed that it would provide five million jobs. But instead, the government was depriving those who had jobs also without reasons.

They further said Wasa had not even released their two-month salaries and now they had been shown the door just a few days ahead of Eid.

The protesters said they would launch a campaign against the termination as the officials were enjoying perks and privileges and the lower staff being made scapegoat for the alleged financial crunch.

They said the lower staff was in fact contributing to the success of Wasa. Even in this harsh weather, this staff was serving the public efficiently.

They shouted slogans outside the office of the Wasa managing director (MD) and demanded restoration of the terminated employees and issuance of their outstanding salaries. They threatened to stage a sit-in outside the MD’s office if their demands were not fulfilled.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019