Traffic jam seen on Faisal Avenue on Monday following protest by sanitation workers. — Photo by Tanveer Shahzad
ISLAMABAD: Traffic on Islamabad Expressway on Monday evening was thrown into disarray after Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad’s (MCI) sanitation workers shifted their protest on to the main artery of the capital, demanding release of their salaries, pending for the last three months.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Interior, under whose jurisdiction the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the MCI come, seems to be playing the role of a silent spectator, paying no heed to the growing tussle between the two organisations over the disbursement of the protesting workers’ dues.
Caught between a rift between the MCI and CDA which were passing the buck on to each other, the sanitary workers blocked traffic near Zero Point Interchange.
The protesters chanted slogans against both civic agencies and a private contractor for not paying them salaries.
The road blockade caused troubles for motorists, most of whom were returning to Rawalpindi from their offices.
CDA says Rs30m have been released to contractor for payment to workers
“Only two days are left for Christmas but government officials are taking no interest in clearing our salaries. Earlier, we had staged protests before the offices of the mayor, CDA chairman, National Press Club but to no avail. Our children are waiting for Christmas shopping where we should go?” said Arshad Masih.
The sanitary workers have been staging protests for the last several days but the authorities remained unmoved. The interior ministry, which is the parent ministry of both the MCI and CDA, has failed to intervene and resolve the issue.
The sanitation directorate was a part of the CDA but after formation of the MCI it was devolved to the latter. But the MCI, which has around Rs2 billion in its account, has been claiming that since its financial rules have not been approved by the government, it can’t spend the amount collected through various municipal charges.
“Since we have no financial rules, the CDA on the direction of the federal government is supposed to pay salaries to the contractor for paying salaries to the sanitary workers,” Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz had told Dawn on Sunday.
The CDA has been showing reluctance in releasing funds saying the MCI was responsible for paying the salaries to its sanitation staff.
But despite its reluctance, the civic agency earlier this year had paid millions of rupees to the contractor for paying salaries to the sanitary workers but only after the workers staged protests.
CDA officials claimed that the mayor last year had paid Rs130 million to the sanitary staff but after January he stopped paying the salaries.
When asked if was not the responsibility of the CDA why it paid salaries to the staff after facing protests, a senior officer of the CDA said: “Paying salaries to sanitary workers is not the job of CDA but being the ‘elder brother’ we used to release funds.” He said the mayor should look into the affairs of the directorate which had been devolved to it.
CDA releases Rs30m