ISLAMABAD: The All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), following the failure of talks with the government, Tuesday announced to stage a sit-in for an indefinite period outside the Parliament House starting from today (Wednesday).
Syed Mehraj, the coordinator of the AGEGA core committee while talking to media persons here, said that the government has refused to honour their legitimate demands which include increase in salaries as per inflation rate, and end of discrimination among the employees of various public sector entities.
He said that on the other day the representatives of the AGEGFA and the government negotiating teams led by Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak which also include Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed held discussion but could not reach any conclusion.
He said that the AGEGA, which consists of the representative bodies of all the federal and provincial government employees, months ago has urged the government to implement their demands, otherwise, they will be left with no option but to launch a sit-in outside the Parliament House for an indefinite period.
During the past few months, the AGEGA has presented various proposals with regard to the increase in salaries and perks to the government but the Ministry of Finance has refused to listen.
The protesters announced a sit-in outside the Parliament House on February 10th as the government failed to issue a notification for increasing their salaries.
Mehraj said that employees from across the country will reach Islamabad to participate in the sit-in for an indefinite period from February 10.
Hundreds of government employees gathered outside the Parliament House and raised slogans against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A heavy contingent of police was present to control any law and order situation on the occasion.
The representatives of the government employees said that the government is continuously telling “lies” and “cheating” thousands of public servants.
“All government promises are baseless. Therefore, we have decided to stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House from February 10. All trade unions throughout the country are on one page and we will lockdown the federal capital from today,” they said.
The government had assured the public sector employees of removing discrepancies in the pay scales.
“We will soon finalise the recommendations of the Pay and Pension Commission (PPC),” Defense Minister Pervaiz Khattak has said a few days ago.
The government in November 2020 reconstituted the PPC by expanding its membership from 18 to 25 to prepare recommendations for providing relief to civil servants as well as military officials and pensioners by removing distortions in the next year's budget and suggesting a way forward.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021