Quetta: Lasbela Division Commissioner Saira Atta on Monday said that the services of the Emergency Rescue Center (Rescue 1122) are commendable, particularly during emergencies and in light of the current security situation.She said that the administration would extend all possible support to the rescue organization.
She expressed these views while talking to a delegation of Rescue 1122 employees at the Commissioner’s Hub Camp Office.
The Commissioner assured the delegation that issues regarding the lack of firefighting equipment for responding to fire incidents on the Coastal Highway and RCD Highway, as well as the non-payment of salaries to the staff, would be resolved immediately.
Commissioner Saira Atta affirmed that the issues are facing MERC Rescue 1122, the largest emergency organization saving lives across the Lasbela Division would be addressed on a priority basis, and modern facilities to be provided to the technical workforce.
During the briefing, the monitoring officer for the MERC Emergency Rescue Center informed the Commissioner that 128 rescue employees had been awaiting their salaries for the past three months, these personnel including drivers, emergency medical technicians, fire rescuers, and control room operators deployed at MERC centers along the Coastal and RCD Highways have been serving since 2019.
They have been performing their duties on a project basis. With the project term set to conclude in November 2025, the Health Department has sought an undertaking. Over the past eight years, Rescue personnel have saved thousands of precious lives often at great personal risk while responding to road accidents, heart attacks, childbirth emergencies, fires, and natural disasters.
The Monitoring Officer informed the Commissioner of Lasbela that the staff were young when recruited but are now mostly over the age of 40, leaving them with no opportunity to apply to other government departments.
Having dedicated their youth, health, and time to serving the people of the province through this organization, they now urge the government to secure their future.
Meanwhile, in light of the security situation, the Commissioner of Lasbela Division, Saira Atta, has urgently summoned the Director General of the agency providing emergency rescue services on the Coastal Highway and the Quetta-Karachi Highway to Lasbela for a coordination meeting.