KARACHI: The fire brigade staff of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation on Saturday called off their strike after the municipal administration assured them that they would be paid their dues at the earliest.

The firefighters had gone on strike against non-payment of risk allowance and other dues to them for the past many months. The staff got back to their duty after Mayor Wasim Akhtar assured them of payment of dues, said official sources.

They said the firefighters would receive one month’s fire risk allowance before next Friday and efforts would be made to disburse the allowance regularly from next month. The firefighters would be paid all dues after approval of the grant by the government, said the sources.

The mayor said the fire brigade staff had the right to protest but strike was not an appropriate move in view of serious nature of their job. “Their demands are justified but they have a highly important duty to save human lives and property,” he added. He appreciated the firefighters for resuming work and said that efforts were being made to resolve all of their problems.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2019