Haripur polio workers boycott campaign in protest

HARIPUR: Polio workers deputed in three urban union councils of the Haripur district here on Monday boycotted the vaccination campaign and staged a protest outside the office of deputy commissioner as they demanded early arrest of a man who had robbed their colleague.

According to police, Shahnaz Akhtar, a health worker from Azizabad locality, complained that she, along with another colleague Nighat Bibi, was on the way back to the office after administering polio drops to the children in Noor Colony when two unidentified motorcyclists intercepted them at around 2pm on Sunday.

One of them, whose criminal activity was also caught on CCTV camera installed outside one of the houses there, was armed with a pistol and forcibly snatched a gold ring and two earrings from her and fled when she started raising alarm while some men got out of their homes. The woman workers engaged in the ongoing polio vaccination drive in Haripur, boycotted the activity in reaction and staged a protest outside the DC office.

The health workers condemned the incident and demanded foolproof security for all the staff engaged in the polio vaccination campaign. Additional Deputy Commissioner Musarrat Zaman held negotiations with the protesting health workers and assured them of complete security and an early arrest of the accused.

After the negotiations, the protesting health workers dispersed peacefully and agreed to resume their duties. The city police registered a first information report against the robbers and claimed that the waylaying incident occurred after the duty hours of polio workers but not during the duty hours when they were provided with proper police security.