KARACHI, Feb 16: Speakers at a meeting on Thursday demanded that concerns of the municipal workers should be addressed before completely handing over the solid waste management system to contractors otherwise workers would be forced to resort to other options.

They were speaking at a workers’ meeting organized by the Municipal Workers Trade Unions Alliance at the Karachi Press Club. The alliance leaders, Kaneez Fatima, Fareed Awan, Zulfiqar Shah and others also condemned the contractors who had started work in some areas of the city. The demonstrating municipal workers had come from different towns.

Earlier, when the municipal workers came out of the KMC workshop on Nishtar Road, they were stopped by a heavy contingent of police from going to the Press Club for participating in the central meeting.

During the scuffle between workers and the police, owing to which traffic remained suspended for some time, a few workers were taken into custody but were later released.

The speakers at the Press club rally said workers had reservations and concern regarding service rules and facilities and feared that contractors would not provide them similar working conditions and facilities.

They said they had approached the municipal administrations many a time regarding their concern over the contract system, but they were never given a clear response due to which workers had become confused and uncertain regarding their service and future.

They alleged that the municipal administration planned to get kickbacks from contractors on one hand and while expensive municipal machinery would be handed over to the contractors at rock bottom prices on the other hand.

They said, under the law, the city administration or town nazims were not empowered to enter into a contract with any contractor regarding solid waste management, etc, as all such decisions had to be discussed in and approved by the town councils, which had not been done yet.

They said they were in contact with their legal advisers, and as soon as legal opinion on the issue was obtained, they might move the courts to safeguard the rights of workers.

They said if workers’ concerns were not addressed, they would be left with no choice but to resort to other means like strikes, etc, for which the administration would be held responsible.

An alliance leader, Fareed Awan, informed Dawn late in the evening that Nazim Saddar Town Mohammad Dilawar had approached the alliance and a meeting to discuss the issue would be held with him at his office on Friday afternoon.