Lady health workers staged a sit-in outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Wednesday under the blazing sun, demanding job degradation, service structure and pending salaries.
The participants of the sit-in were carrying banners and placards in their hands, inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands. The protest started at 11 am in the Assembly Chowk, but no one came from the government for negotiations, after which the lady health workers blocked GT Road as well as Sher Shah Suri and Radio Pakistan Road, which caused long queues of vehicles across the city and the worst traffic jams across the city. The demonstration was led by Ishrat Bibi, General Secretary of the Lady Health Workers Shaheen Union.
She told Pakhtun Digital in an exclusive interview that they have been serving at scale five since 1994 and despite repeated promises, it has yet to be been upgraded. “We have repeatedly held talks with the government and tried to convince the government to upgrade our scale from five to scale 9. Our second demand is to promote on the basis of the service structure, while the third demand is about the permanence of the employees of the IHP project,” She added.
She said that several meetings were held with the government in this regard, and the government repeatedly assured them, but to no avail. “We staged a sit-in today and will boycott the anti-polio campaign in the next phase to press the government to accept our legitimate demands,” She emphasised.
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A heavy contingent of the police force was deployed on this occasion, while the district administration repeatedly attempted to negotiate with the lady health workers, but they failed. The administration told the lady health workers that most of the dignitaries of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, including the Chief Minister, are in Islamabad at the moment, so no one will come to negotiate with them at present. After blocking the road throughout the day, the lady health workers opened the road for traffic at around 8:15 pm, but they announced that the sit-in would continue until the demands were approved.
