KESC asked to pay PEPCO dues

WAPDA workers for preparing a new viable reforms programme.

FAISALABAD:

Engineers of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) and employees of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) have asked the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to pay arrears running into billions of rupees of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco).

In a meeting held here on Tuesday, the Fesco Engineers Association and Wapda Hydroelectric Central Labour Union also called for constituting a high-powered commission for formulating a viable and practicable reforms programme for power companies.

They opposed privatisation of Pepco and power distribution companies and said they would continue to protest against the move.

They criticised the government for failing to give any assurance about abandoning the privatisation plan and threatened that the workers and engineers would stage strike for an indefinite period.

Speaking on the occasion, Fesco Engineers Association General Secretary Mujahid Pervez Chattha, Hydroelectric Union Regional General Secretary Mian Rashid Ahmed and others called for an end to the power sector reforms programme, which they alleged had been launched at the behest of international oil companies and lending agencies which would ruin the power sector.

The engineers and workers also opposed appointment of a non-technical, private and junior engineer as chief executive officer of the power company.

They underscored the need for constructing hydro and coal-fired power plants for generating cheap electricity instead of relying on
furnace oil.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.