SWAT: Hundreds of employees of Water and Sanitation Services Company Swat on Monday staged a protest for increase in their salaries.

Led by Mohammad Raziq, president of the WSSC workers’ union, the sanitary staff and tubewell operators gathered in front of the tehsil municipal administration office in Mingora, holding banners and chanting slogans against the company’s management.

The protesters said the provincial government had announced increase in salaries of all its employees in the budget but the high officials of WSSC did not implement the directives.

“Despite the government’s order for increase in salaries of its employees three months ago, our salaries have not been increased, which is a violation of the government’s order,” lamented a protester.

The agitators said they faced immense difficulties amid rising prices of food times. They threatened that if WSSC did not increase their salaries with payment of three months’ arrears within three days, all the sanitary workers and tubewell operators in Mingora would go on a strike.

The company’s media spokesperson Shaista Hakim said WSSC was paying salaries to its employees as per the government rules. “The WSSC has neither reduced salaries nor neglected any of its employees. All the employees are being paid legally and as per the government rules. It was scandalous and sad to raise slogans against the WSSC officials,” she said.

She said the sanitary workers and tubewell operators were on the payroll of TMA, which had provided them to WSSC. She said these employees were paid salaries by TMA with 20 per cent additional allowance being paid to them by WSSC.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2021