The contract meter readers of SNGPL protested and besieged the head office of the company on Friday for more than two hours in order to get permanent employment. One of the protesters, Muhammad Tanveer also had a cardiac arrest during the protest and died at the hospital. The eyewitnesses said that the drama continued for around two hours, as the protestors bombarded the Kashmir Road office of SNGPL with stones which broke numerous windowpanes. The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) administration had to call police to control the situation.
The protest started in the evening and the protestors chanted slogans against the company and alleged the higher-ups for appointing non-deserving people. They were of the view that they had the first right over company employment. Recently SNGPL had filled the posts of meter-readers and other staff, but had ignored all those meter readers who had been working for the last 20 years, said a protestor Javed adding that it was sheer injustice against him and his colleagues. The protest turned violent after some of the protestors threw stones on the building of the SNGPL, breaking many windowpanes. Meanwhile, one of the protesters, who was later identified as Muhammad Tanveer, fainted amid the hue and cry. His colleagues rushed him to a hospital, where he died. The hospital sources said that he had had a heart failure.
SNGPL Deputy Secretary Muhammad Imtiaz said that the protestors took the law in their hands without any reason. He said that the meter readers were working on contract for many years and there was no compulsion in the rules to hire these employees on a permanent basis. “We have a criteria and education for hiring staff on permanent basis and we can hire only those people, who fit the job,” he said adding, “We are not bound to hire them and if they meet our criteria then we can give them permanent jobs.”
