HARIPUR: The workers of Haripur tehsil municipal administration on Tuesday boycotted their duties and staged a demonstration against an additional assistant commissioner (AAC) for allegedly forcing a TMA officer to stand in the dock of his court and subjecting him to mental torture.

Malik Hafeez, Haripur chapter president of All Government Employees Coordination Council, and Raja Mohammad Zubair, a TMA employee and general secretary of the council, said a few days ago AAC-1 Mohammad Ali had called and asked TMA’s chief sanitary inspector Mohammad Rafaqat to carry out cleanliness of the house and street of an acquaintance, who was living outside the limits of municipal body.

The sanitation staff carried out the task and informed AAC about it. However, the officer, instead of appreciating, called the sanitary inspector to his office and scolded him for not de-silting the main drain that in fact was possible only with an excavator.

On Tuesday morning, the AAC also summoned TMA chief officer Mohammad Sohail to his office and used harsh language against him for not sending an excavator for clearing the drain. The AAC, according to TMA employees, snatched his mobile phone and coerced him to sit in his office as a punishment for not obeying his order. He also forced the TMA officer to stand in the dock of his court for about an hour.

The chief officer was set free on the intervention of tehsil municipal officer, who later shared Mr Sohail’s ordeal with office-bearers of the coordination council. Later, the TMA employees boycotted their duties for about an hour and staged a token strike, chanting slogans against the AAC and demanding his transfer.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2023