Police foil bid to turn off Hyd water supply

The employees of Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HWSC) continued their protest for the eighth consecutive day on Tuesday over non-payment of salaries and pensions for the past 12 months.

Employees staged a four-hour sit-in at the main sewage pumping station, disrupting drainage operations, which led to the accumulation of dirty water on roads in several areas.

Meanwhile, Hala Naka Filter Plant was also shut down for four hours, causing a water supply disruption in Phuleli, Preetabad, Liaquat Colony, Quaidabad, and adjoining areas. Union leaders Ejaz Hussain, Abdul Qayyum Bhatti, and Abdul Hameed, while addressing the sit-in, said, they are protesting out of compulsion over non-payment of salaries and pensions. They accused corrupt officials in the corporation of supporting a favoured union, which had been staging a sit-in at the sewage station for the past week, with the administration providing tents and carpets to them.

Meanwhile, the police foiled an attempt by the Mehran Workers Union to shut down the New Filter Plant. According to the union's general secretary, Muhammad Aslam Abbasi, they had announced a complete water supply shutdown from morning till evening, but the police surrounded the plant and prevented employees from entering. Despite this, three employees managed to enter and shut down the plant, but the police took them into custody, forcibly reopened the plant, and later released them.

Mehran Workers Union President Aftab Lark and General Secretary Aslam Abbasi alleged that the administration wanted to crush the protest through the police.