Consumer concern: Workers’ absence affecting FESCO service, customers say

FESCO workers are on a strike and there is no one here to hear our issues, says a customer


Our Correspondent May 21, 2015
FESCO workers are on a strike and there is no one here to hear our issues, says a customer. PHOTO: SHAHID BUKHARI/EXPESS

FAISALABAD:


Queues of dissatisfied customers were seen at the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) headquarters on Canal Road on Wednesday as workers continued their strike against privatisation of the company for the third day.


Talking to The Express Tribune in front of the FESCO headquarters, Abdul Ghaffar said he had been visiting the offices for nearly a week over an inflated bill.

“I think FESCO added extra units to my account. When I contacted the subdivision office in my area, I was told to go to the FESCO headquarters for the correction,” he said.

“There is no one here to hear my concern,” he said. He said every time he had visited the headquarters, he was told that workers were on a strike. “They keep telling me to come another day, but the due date is approaching and I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Azhar Mehmood, another visitor, he was a farmer and had come to the FESCO offices because the energy meter on his tube well had broken down.

“The subdivision officers in my area advised me to go to the FESCO head office to get a replacement,” he said.

He said he had been coming to the office for three days. “Apparently FESCO workers are on a strike and there is no one here to hear our issues.”

He said if he did not get the connection restored, his crop would be destroyed.

Meanwhile, FESCO workers observed pen-down strike and remained away from their duties in the office as well as in the field.

They gathered in front of the FESCO headquarters and staged a sit-in there.

They chanted slogans against privatisation and urged the government to reverse its plans to sell off the company. They carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans saying, “Privatisation amounts to treason,” “Anti-worker policies are unacceptable,” “Bring down anti-worker government,” “Go Nawaz Go” and “Won’t allow FESCO privatisation”.

All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union general secretary Khurshid Ahmad said the government had ignored their protests for too long.

“They have turned a deaf ear to our demands. No government representative has bothered to meet us to hear our concerns,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2015

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