MITHl: Operators of several reverse osmosis plants installed in different pans of Thar staged a demonstration outside deputy commissioner`s office here on Monday, demanding payment of salaries of past seven months.

The protesters` leaders Irfan Bajeer, Babu Mehranpoto, Mohan Meghwar and others told journalists that several hundred workers and operators hired by a private firm to install, run and maintain the costly plants had not received salaries for the past seven months, making it next to impossible for them to feed their families in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

They said that they had tried to contact officials of public health engineering department several times but no officer concerned bothered to listen to their grievances. They warned they would shut down the plants if they were not paid the salaries within next few days.

Meanwhile, several localities in the town did not receive water from the water supply scheme of the town.

The town`s residents lamented that they had not been provided canal water for many days because water of their share was being stolen by tanker mafia from the ponds near the town. They demanded the government take notice of the worst water crisis in the town and other areas of the desen district and take steps to resolve the chronic issue.-A Correspondent