peshawar
Several government employees detained by police when they were trying to march towards the Civil Secretariat Peshawar to press for their demands including pay raise.
A large number of agitators assembled at Khyber Road outside the KP assembly here on a call given by Attached Department Officers Association (ADOA).
As they were marching towards the secretariat and raising slogans in support of their demands, police baton-charged in a bid to stop them from entering the red zone, officials said.
Police also took about 15 of them into custody and later sent them in buses to police lines, sources said.
The ADOA had earlier announced to set up a protest camp outside the finance minister in the civil secretariat and demonstrate protest march from the provincial assembly to the secretariat against the government in support of their demands including pay raise in the recently passed budget 2021-22.
The association alleged the government for making no increase in the budget and creating disparity among the attached departments and civil secretariat employees.
They claimed that the secretariat employees have been given extraordinary pay increases but the attached department employees were totally ignored in the budget 2021-22.
The provincial government has increased the disparity among their government employees those who are already receiving salaries in lakes given more incentives, however, attached departments employees have been sidelined in the budget, said the president of the Attached Department Officers Association (ADOA)
The president of the ADOA in a statement released after the police baton charge said that police have tortured officers of grades 17,18 and 19, adding that protest will be continued till the release of officers and accept their demands.
It is worth mentioning here that earlier this year the provincial capital police had resorted to baton-charge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse a protest rally organized by public sector universities teachers. During the police action against the government employees several government employees including universities teachers, doctors, nurses, and schools teachers sustained injuries while others detained.
