Utility Stores’ employees continue sit-in on second day in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The sit-in of Utility Stores Corporation employees, gathered from all over the country, continued on second day at D-Chowk in Islamabad.
As per reports, the protestors of Utility Stores demanded that their contracts be made permanent and the privatization of the organization should be stopped, and said the utility stores throughout the country will remain shut until their demands are accepted.
They also chanted slogans and said that the government is not providing relief to the poverty-stricken people. The protestors stayed all over night to fix camps on roads.
Meanwhile, heavy contingent of police deployed there and the personnel have blocked the road heading to Parliament House in order to maintain law and order situation in the federal capital.
A day earlier, the employees adopted a stance that the closure of Utility Store is oppression on the poor, adding that they will demonstrate a protest till 126 days if their demand would not accepted.
The agitated employees marched down from the corporation’s head office in Blue Area to D-Chowk, where they were stopped by the police forces from proceeding forward. Refusing to be stopped by the police, the protesters threatened to march down on the Parliament House if their demands were not met.
Security has been deployed at and around D-Chowk to keep the situation under control.
The employees of the Utility Stores Corporation, the country’s biggest state-run retail chain, urged the government to settle Rs27.6 billion worth of its subsidy claims pending for the last seven years, which is creating a financial crunch for the corporation, leading to its possible closure.
Earlier, the government ordered the Utility Stores Corporation to halt all purchases until further notice, leaving as many as 14,000 employees in the lurch.
They also chanted slogans and said that the government is not providing relief to the poverty-stricken people. The protestors stayed all over night to fix camps on roads.
Meanwhile, heavy contingent of police deployed there and the personnel have blocked the road heading to Parliament House in order to maintain law and order situation in the federal capital.
A day earlier, the employees adopted a stance that the closure of Utility Store is oppression on the poor, adding that they will demonstrate a protest till 126 days if their demand would not accepted.
The agitated employees marched down from the corporation’s head office in Blue Area to D-Chowk, where they were stopped by the police forces from proceeding forward. Refusing to be stopped by the police, the protesters threatened to march down on the Parliament House if their demands were not met.
Security has been deployed at and around D-Chowk to keep the situation under control.
The employees of the Utility Stores Corporation, the country’s biggest state-run retail chain, urged the government to settle Rs27.6 billion worth of its subsidy claims pending for the last seven years, which is creating a financial crunch for the corporation, leading to its possible closure.
Earlier, the government ordered the Utility Stores Corporation to halt all purchases until further notice, leaving as many as 14,000 employees in the lurch.
