The life at Mall Road of provincial capital Lahore remained paralysed as protesters belonging to Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) and Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP) staged a sit-in outside Punjab Assembly during its ongoing session, at Faisal Chowk (Charing Cross) on Wednesday.
Protesters from different cities, towns and rural areas of Punjab were gathered in scorching heat to push for their demands. All roads leading to Mall Road were blocked. Previously it was observed that during a protest demonstration, protesters spare the way on Queens Road for the commuters coming from Ganga Ram Hospital. Blockage of one of the city’s busiest roads from all sides added problems to the daily road users, particularly patients, as many ambulances were struck in the traffic jam.
Protesters were carrying banners, flags and were chanting slogans against the government. The leaders were criticising government in their speeches.
Most protesting farmers under the umbrella of PKI came from Multan, Lodhran, Kabirwala, Bahawalpur and other cities of South Punjab. Addressing the protesters, PKI President Khalid Khokhar said that costly electricity bills for tube wells were not affordable and that their installments should be waved out.
He said that due to low price of cotton in the country, cotton growers were unable to meet the expenses of their cultivations so they do not have money to grow next crop. He said that cotton growers are being exploited at the hands of Pakistan Ginners Association and government is responsible for this. He and other leaders demanded the government to provide facilities to the farmers. They also demanded to boycott agricultural trade with India and end General Sales Tax (GST) on farmers and to immediately review the agricultural policies and bring reforms in them.
PRSP workers demand regularisation:
The other sit-in was staged by the workers of Punjab Rural Support Program (PRSP) at the same place, demanding regularisation of all workers as the government was planning to sack them from job.
In 2004, the provincial health department handed over the BHUs of 14 districts in Punjab to a semi-government agency PRSP which recruited more than 6,000 health employees in different categories such as medical officers, midwives, Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), Key Punch Operators (KPOs), sanitary workers and Grade IV employees.
The contract of these health employees would end in June 2016 and after that they would not be treated as employees. An employee of the BHU Ali Asghar who hailed from district Hafizabad while talking to Pakistan Today said that after doing more than ten years of service, the department will terminate him.
“I have three children and all are school going, it would be very difficult for me to meet the livelihood after being sacked from the job” he added.
The protesters demanded that instead of terminating their services, the Punjab government should regularise them or deploy them in other departments.
Protesters of both groups vowed to continue their sit-in until their demands were met.