KOHAT: Senior officials of the Water Supply and Sanitation Company (WSSC) again failed on Tuesday to make the striking workers to end their agitation.

The WSSC officials had also held talks with the workers on Monday, urging them to end the strike, but to no avail.

Over 500 sanitation workers have been on strike for nine days over non-payment of salary.

The officials said that due to the strike, the city bazaars and residential areas had been turned into heaps of garbage. They demanded of the government to immediately pay withheld salaries to the striking workers.

WSSC chief executive Arif Rauf, deputy general manager Tahir Afeef and manager Shehryar Khan held the second round of talks with the workers’ union president Sohail Ahmed to end the protest. However, the talks broke down because Mr Ahmed did not accept a new date for payment of salaries.

The WSSC board of governors also didn’t approve the budget for 2023-24, linking its approval with the payment of salaries to the striking workers.

Talking to Dawn, Sohail Ahmed lamented that the WSSC officials always made false promises and gave new dates for payment of salaries. He said workers had been promised payment on June 9 by the WSSC chief executive, but to no avail.

Mr Ahmed regretted that the senior officials got salaries between Rs250,000 to Rs350,000, but they had no regard for poor workers, who worked for only Rs30,000 a month amid record inflation.

“We are unable to pay the utility bills, school fees of children, and buy even essential medicines and food items, but the administration is unmoved,” he regretted.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2023