ISLAMABAD: More than 700 contractual sacked employees of Radio Pakistan have staged a sit-in in front of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and demanded the restoration of their services.
On Tuesday, the state-owned Radio Pakistan has terminated the services of more than 700 employees working on a contractual basis.
The protesters said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to provide 10 million jobs. However, now several of the employees are being laid off every day. They alleged that the government has illegally fired them in the dark of night.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Nafisa Shah, PML-N leader and former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who arrived at the sit-in to express solidarity, said that they stand with the employees and they also condemn the move of PTI government.
“We are with all the employees and we will raise our voice for them in parliament. If there is no government from Imran Niazi, the government should give it back to us,” they demanded.
Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation issued a memorandum stating that it has decided to terminate the services of contractual staff and those working on daily wages. This includes 531 employees of the Programme Department, News 177 and 41 from the web desk.
According to a spokesperson, PBC is facing a budget deficit of Rs. 942.887 million during the current fiscal year 2020-21. The annual emoluments of the contractual staff to the tune of Rs.181.752 million are being paid from the Program, News and Current Affairs production expenses.
Keeping in view PBC’s financial constraints, the management reviewed the existing human resource and decided that under the current circumstances it is not possible for the organization to continue to utilize the services of contractual staff under the present terms and conditions.
