Showing their dissatisfaction over the leadership of the vice-chancellor, employees of the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration against the alleged irregularities of the high-ups and their ignorance towards resolving the workers’ issues. Around 300 protesters gathered at Bab-ul-Quaid and marched towards the Administration Block against the alleged mismanagement and irregularities of the vice-chancellor and registrar. Later, they staged a sit-in in front of the building. Speaking on the occasion, Employees Welfare Association (EWA) President Hasan Shah said the varsity administration was not following the green book and calendar of the university in recruitment of staff and pursing other key policy matters.
He said on the one hand, the registrar was given two promotions during his probationary period, while on the other, low-paid employees were being served show-cause notices for raising voice against the management. The EWA president further said the VC and registrar had been hiring the favoured people on daily wages. “The administration is relaxing rules to recruit their blue-eyed boys first as daily wage workers only to be regularised later on,” Hasan added. EWA General Secretary Haroon-ur-Rashid Butt alleged that the children of the varsity high-ups were learning driving while using the official vehicles and some of the QAU ‘top guns’ had been spending varsity funds on the renovation of their houses.
The protesters were of the view that ‘illegal’ promotions had caused frustration among the deserving employees. They demanded the VC should make public the record of all employees hired in the last two years and resolve the issues being faced by them. It may be recalled that a few days ago, EWA pasted pamphlets reading ‘Enough is Enough’ on the walls of the campus, accusing the administration of giving a free hand to their favourites.Meanwhile, Vice-Chancellor Dr Masoom Yasinzai, while talking to Pakistan Today, denied all the allegations levelled by EWA, saying EWA President Hasan Shah was issued a charge-sheet in the light of an inquiry report for assaulting his fellow driver. “Hasan Shah did not submit the answer of charge-sheet even on the last day (Tuesday) of the deadline and opted to go on a strike against the varsity administration to divert the attention,” VC added.
