LAHORE: The college teachers’ protest outside Civil Secretariat continued for the 19th day on Thursday, causing a great deal of inconvenience for the motorists and those living in the surrounding areas.

The chief secretary, additional chief secretary, additional secretary (home) and other officers are using the commissioner office gate. The secretariat employees also have changed their route.

Several major and minor roads of the area including patches of the Lower and Upper Mall had been closed for the last three weeks. On Thursday, the impact of the traffic mess increased to other parts of the city such as Jail Road, Mall Road, Davies Road and adjoining arteries which remained choked the whole day through.

Some eyewitnesses and local residents said the traffic mess was a matter of concern forcing people to stay indoors. They said people were facing inconvenience due to traffic blockages.

First round of negotiation remains inconclusive

Multan Road, Lytton Road, Jain Mandir, roads near MAO College, Istanbul Chowk, Outfall Road and Anarkali market too had unusual traffic. The situation is quite problematic for the residents of Islampura which is one of the most populated localities of the city.

The government employees and students also face difficulty in reaching their destinations.

The Civil Secretariat houses 43 government departments and the officers and other employees are bearing the brunt of the agitation. The Town Hall has also become inaccessible for the employees and the visitors due to the traffic mess. The lawyers, judges and visitors also are disturbed.

Some protesting teachers said nearly 400 government teachers had lodged protest in the area on the first day of the agitation and the number had swelled and they were determined to pleading their case with vigour.

Hundreds of college teachers are holding their sit-in outside Civil Secretariat to demand regularisation of jobs along with pay protection. They have blocked the road on both sides to protest against the government for delay in acceptance of their demands including pay and service protection of 7,000 teachers. The teachers are also boycotting the classes in all colleges of the province from 10am to 11am daily.

On Thursday, a team including Additional Chief Secretary Syed Ali Murtza, Higher Education Department Secretary Ali Sarfraz and Finance Secretary Iftikhar Amjad held a meeting with the college teachers’ committee members Abul Hassan Naqvi, Nasir Adeeb and Ghulam Mustafa.

The first session of the dialogue could not bear fruit and the second session will be held on Friday (today).

Mr Adeeb told Dawn that the government team was asking to end the protest, saying it would form a committee to address the teachers’ issues at the first meeting.

“We have categorically told them that the protest won’t end without getting any notification of pay and service protection,” he said and added that they would have agreed to end the protest if the negotiators had fixed a timeline for addressing their grievances.

“The negotiators have agreed that the pay protection is the basic right of the teachers and it will be accepted,” Mr Adeeb said and added that they had sought time till Friday (today) to discuss the matter with the chief secretary.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2022