KUWAIT: A large number of Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) employees staged a sit-in on Monday to protest over the suspension of remote areas' allowances some of them had been getting. The sit-in was held at MEW headquarters in South Surra. Ministry officials had explained earlier that they followed Civil Service Commission instructions to cut allowances given to some employees who work in power plants and other MEW facilities located in remote areas.

Commenting on the issue, MPs Nayef Al-Merdas and Marzouq Al-Khalifa stressed the need to do justice to employees who lost their allowances and urged Minister Essam Al-Marzouq to intervene before things develop into a strike. MEW employees' syndicate chairman Nawwaf Boyabes said Marzouq promised to look into the matter during a meeting held earlier this week and instructed his assistant undersecretary for financial and administrative affairs to follow up and resolve the problem.

In other news, Kuwait Fishermen Union's chairman Thaher Al-Sowayyan stressed that the union is keen on providing Sharq fish market with all needed fresh local fish despite the hardships fishermen suffered after being evicted from their residences without providing them with alternative accommodation close to the harbor.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi