WAPDA workers call for an end to ‘hooliganism’ of MPA

Launch province-wide protests against proposed privatisation of authority

SWABI/ PESHAWAR/ CHARSADDA/ LOWER DIR:

Seeing no end in sight for MPA Fazal Elahi’s alleged hooliganism and the question of job security looming large with the imminent privatisation of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the only real solution its employees found was to make their presence felt across the streets of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Irked by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker’s conduct, Peshawar Electric Supply Company workers protested against him in the city on Wednesday.

Members of the All Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Electric Workers Union gathered outside Pesco headquarters, shouting slogans against Elahi for interfering in their duties and torturing their colleagues. Addressing protesters, union leaders pressed the government to take action against Elahi. “We want the government to either stop him from hooliganism or de-seat him from his assembly berth,” said Mustajab Khan, the union general secretary.

Mustajab said every now and then the MPA emerges with dozens of supporters and barges into grid stations, getting feeders switched on by force. “The feeders are switched off in light of a specific schedule for load-shedding,” he added.

They also paid equal attention to the promotion of an executive engineer as the new Quetta Electric Supply Company CEO. They questioned how a Grade-18 officer can leap to Grade-21. “We have forced such CEOs out in the past and will not let any illegal appointments happen,” said union chairman Gohar Taj. He said the company’s privatisation will benefit no one. “Pesco is a public company and handing it over to private parties means jeopardising the interests of the public,” he said, citing the examples of Karachi Electric Supply Company and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited. Taj said union members have protested in all district headquarters of the province. After the speeches, they marched to Bacha Khan Chowk where the demonstration culminated.

Meanwhile it was not just company workers who were out on the streets. Residents of Gulbahar and Ijazabad also protested against the installation of digital meters in their areas.

Ripple effect

Nevertheless, Taj’s words did come true. Company workers launched a similar protest outside their office in Swabi. In their speeches, the local workers’ union’s chairman Imtiaz Ahmed Khan, division secretary Fazalullah, zonal secretary Amjad Ali Khan and vice chairman Buland Iqbal expressed outrage against the proposed privatisation and demanded the up-gradation of clerical staffers.

Similar voices echoed in Charsadda where the Wapda Mazdoor Ittehad launched a protest and declared privatisation a conspiracy against the authority. Their rally ended at Farooqe Azam Chowk. Wapda employees also took to the streets in defiance up north, in Lower Dir. The demonstration was held outside Timergara Press Club where the union’s divisional chairman Yousaf Khan said they decided to protest to honour the call of their central leaders.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2015.