WAPDA employees shouting slogans against the government. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS
Thousands of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and electric workers came together on Thursday to stage a protest demonstration against the proposed privatisation of public utilities by the federal government at the behest of the World Bank.
Protests against the proposed move were also staged in other cities including Peshawar, Swat, Abbotabad, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sargodha, Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Quetta and Islamabad. The demonstrations had been organised by the All Pakistan Wapda Hydroelectric Workers Union (CBA).
The participants took out a procession from the Bakhtiar Labour Hall in the city and staged a rally in front of the Lahore Press Club (LPC) and marched to the Chief Minister’s House via Davis Road and The Mall. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General IA Rehman and LPC President Arshad Ansari addressed those present on the occasion.
CBA General Secretary Khurshid Ahmed urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to review case studies regarding the failure of the Multan and Rawalpindi electric supply companies and to ascertain why they had been transferred to the Wapda. He said why had K-Electric (KC) not been running its own power plants despite cheap electricity from the Wapda and billions of rupees annually from the federal government. Ahmed said the company had failed to eliminate load shedding and provide the citizens of Karachi with affordable electricity.
He said access to electricity was a basic right and the government was constitutionally bound to supply citizens, industries, farmers and commercial entities with power. Ahmed said the private sector could not fulfil this obligation. He said the government should strive to provide people with affordable electricity and eradicate load shedding instead of privatising the utility.
Ahmed said the government should hold talks with employees before unilaterally deciding to privatise electricity. He said workers had avoided industrial action as the armed forces were engaged in a war against terrorism. Ahmed said workers would march to Islamabad and stage a demonstration there on January 28 if the government failed to look into the matter. A resolution condemning the publication of offensive caricatures by French magazine Charlie Hebdo was also moved on the occasion. The resolution urged the United Nations to ban publications that fostered hatred among the people of the world.
FESCO workers protest privatisation bid
Workers of the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) on Thursday observed a strike and protested against the proposed privatisation of the company.
They locked their offices and staged a sit-in at the Fesco headquarters on Canal Road. The protesters chanted slogans against the government and warned that they would continue to protest if the Fesco was privatised.
Speaking to the protesters, Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union General Secretary Sarfraz Hundal said the government had no justification for privatising the Fesco. He said it was among the few power distribution companies of Pakistan that made a profit.
He said the government wanted to privatise Fesco under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said Fesco workers should not allow privatisation of the company and should continue to protest till the government announced its decision to scrap the plans for selling off the company.
“If the government does not desist, we will be forced to stop electricity supply to the region,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2015.
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