MARDAN, Sept 19: The employees of Mardan Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) on Wednesday went on strike against the proposed construction of a plaza on the premises of their office.

Led by the president of TMA Employees Union, Farhad Khan, the protesters locked their offices and observed a strike against the government’s plan to build the plaza in the limits of their office.

Farhad Khan, Malik Aman, Abdul Hakeem, Mir Afzal and Noor Hameed Khan said on the occasion that the plaza was being constructed on TMA premises under a conspiracy.

They said that an under-construction plaza had been left incomplete by the officials concerned but the government planned construction of another plaza on the TMA premises to benefit its blue-eyed persons.

They added that construction of the plaza would render the office insecure besides creating problems for TMA employees and residents of the district.

Meanwhile, Tajir Ittehad boycotted the elections of Mardan Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday and said that it would move Peshawar High Court against the poll process.

Addressing an emergency press conference, Tajir Ittehad leaders Mohammad Islam, Ihsan Bacha, Nasrullah Jan, Mir Afzal and Arshad Manan Yousafzai said that the director of Trade Organisation had issued directives to hold elections on all 30 seats of executive body of the chamber but the incumbent office-bearers decided to elect fifty members. Besides, names of their trader colleagues were not included in the voter list, they added.

They said that they boycotted the elections because the process was illegal. They added that traders had decided to challenge the elections before Peshawar High Court.