RAWALAKOT (Kashmir English): Employees of Pearl Development Authority (PDA) Rawalakot went on strike due to non-payment of salaries for the six months and also set up a protest camp outside their office.
In addition to employees of the institution, officials from the Officers Association District Poonch APCA Azad Kashmir, and other departments and organizations also participated in the protest.
Former Azad Kashmir government minister Sardar Tahir Anwar Advocate demanded that immediate arrangements should be made for the salaries of PDA employees. “The institution should be strengthened, and its issues should be resolved immediately.”
PDA in financial crisis
President Officers Association Poonch, Zafar Mahmood, said that the PDA institution has been facing financial and administrative difficulties for a long time.
Despite repeated strikes, its problems are not being resolved on a permanent basis, which is a sheer injustice and unfairness, he said.
“Despite high-level assurances and reminders from senior officials, the non-availability of salaries for the PDA employees is tantamount to killing the employees and their families.”
The protesters warned that they were once again giving a final week-long notice to the government and others responsible that if all the problems of PDA are not resolved within one week, then the employees of the entire complex will be in protest.
Sardar Asif Hanif, Nazim Iftikhar, and Dawood Rafiq, officials from APCA, Food, and technical staff, said that it is better to resolve the problems of PDA now or go on a strike until death, rather than dying every day. They said that they stand with the PDA employees and will not back down until all their problems are resolved.
Tariq Mehboob, Fayyaz Naqi, Ajmal Barkat, Zareen Zaman, and Fayyaz Khan addressed the protest camp and said that they had discussed the problems on every forum, adding every forum has agreed to our demands as correct, but so far, no progress has been made towards their resolution.
“Therefore, PDA employees will continue their strike until their demands are accepted and implemented. Our demands are clear and legitimate.”
They demanded that salaries of PDA employees be regularized. Pension commutation and other benefits be arranged for PDA employees upon retirement, they added.
They further demanded that cases of employee promotion and other matters should be settled, and immediate arrangements should be made for disbursement of six months salaries for the institution.
