Workers up the ante against HWSC management

The Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HWSC) workers have announced a strike on August 7 to protest against the unending problem of delay in payment of salaries and pensions.

The second largest city of the province is likely to face a severe water and sanitation crisis due to the strike. Already plagued with filth and overflowing gutters, a strike of drainage workers might drown the city in sewage.

In this regard, the Mehran Workers Union on Monday announced support for the strike call given by Labour Action Committee of the corporation. The workers have also demanded that the government should start a forensic audit of the corporation's finances especially since January, 2022.

Speaking at a meeting of the union on Monday its President Muhammad Azam Rajput said the staff of HWSC dedicatedly worked during the recently rainfall and ensured prompt drainage of the rainwater. "These workers should be paid their unpaid salaries of the last seven months as well as overtime pay for their additional labour," he demanded.

The union's General Secretary Aslam Abbassi pointed out that during a recent meeting chaired by the Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani in Hyderabad the issue of financial health of the corporation was discussed. "The former Commissioner Hyderabad and incumbent Additional Chief Secretary Syed Khalid Haider Shah at the meeting raised questions why HWSC couldn't timely pay its employees even though its monthly revenue collection stood at around Rs150 million."

He claimed that the corporation made record recoveries in the months of May and June this year. "But on behest of an officer, the workers were kept deprived of their salaries even during Eidul Azha and Muharramul Haram."