Municipality staffers stage sit-in demanding salary from govt fund

Officers and employees of all the municipalities in Rajshahi district have been continuing sit-in for the second consecutive day today, demanding salary and allowance from the government’s fund instead of pourasabha fund.

The staff gathered on the district’s Shaheed Minar premises in the morning and started the four-hour programme around 9:00am, our Rajshahi staff correspondent reports.

The sit-in is being held in line with the nationwide work-abstention and sit-in programmes declared by Bangladesh Municipality Services Association, said Md Rokmat Zaman, president of the association’s Rajshahi district branch.

According to the municipality staff, the officers and employees in 327 municipalities all over the country are not getting their salaries and bills regularly due to fund constraint. They are passing hard days due to the situation.

In many municipalities, employees have been deprived of salaries for two months to even six years. They are not getting festival allowances either.

They urged the government to nationalise services of municipalities.

Service seekers are facing immense problems due to the ongoing agitation and shutdown of the offices.

The association has decided to hold a sit-in on the premises of Dhaka Central Shaheed Minar on July 14.

Yesterday, officers and employees of Gaibandha Sadar, Gobindaganj and Sundarganj municipalities observed work-abstention and sit-in on the municipality office premises as part of the demonstration.