Utility Stores employees stage sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The employees of Utility Stores Corporation, gathered from all over the country, staged sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad against likely closure of the stores and demand permanent contracts. As per reports, the protestors demanded that their contracts be made permanent and the likely privatization of the organization should be stopped, and said the utility stores throughout the country will remain shut from today until their demands are accepted. 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.