BDA employees end hunger strike as govt accepts their demands

QUETTA: The protesting contract employees of the Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) ended their almost two week-long hunger strike after successful negotiations with the government on Friday night.

A government delegation headed by Minister for Agriculture Engineer Zamarak Khan Piralizai met leaders of the joint action committee of the protesting workers led by Yar Mohammad.

The minister informed them that the government had accepted their demands and that a notification had been issued to this effect. He handed over a copy of the notification to the hunger strikers.

He said payment of five months’ salaries of the BDA’s contact employees had already been approved by Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani.

Sources said a committee earlier formed for looking into the issue of the regularisation of services of the BDA contract employees had been abolished and the authority’s board of directors had been asked to convene its meeting to take decision about regularising the services of 722 contract employees of BDA.