Lesco workers protest Pepco privatisation

Say distribution companies suffering most losses should be ‘experimented on’.

LAHORE:

Engineers and workers from the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) protested against the privatisation of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) and recruitment of officers from private companies in Lesco and other distribution companies.

Protesters walked from Nisbet Road to Lakshmi Chowk and staged a sit-in, for about two hours carries a traffic jam. Protesters said the government’s decision to privatise Lesco, a company which has the least losses, is not practical, instead other distribution companies which are suffering severe losses like Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) should be experimented upon.

Lesco Engineers Association general secretary Muhammad Ramazan Butt told The Express Tribune, “The government is blindly following dictation from the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) and the World Bank.” Engineers said the possible recruitment of business graduates from private companies will only add to the mismanagement because they would not be able to handle the technical issues that engineers are trained for. Engineers further added that the power sector has already worked hard to correct wrongs under former president Pervez Musharraf.

The Engineers Association and the Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union announced that a protest outside the Parliament House on December 21 is on the cards if the government doesn’t pay attention to their demands.

Workers said that the privatisation of electric supply companies will lead to an unchecked hike in power tariffs. There is pressure from the labor unions on the Engineers Association, to shut down the companies completely if their demands remain unheard. The government has not issued a date for privatisation of the distribution companies as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2011.