LAHORE: Electricity/Wapda workers held a protest rally under the umbrella of All Pakistan Hydropower Workers Union Wapda on Thursday against rising commodity prices.
They called on the government to prevent electricity theft by ensuring the safety of field staff in the performance of their duties. There are 48,000 FIRs registered for electricity theft, but no defendants have been punished so far, they said. The workers pointed out that the rise in electricity tariffs could be controlled if the government prevented the theft of electricity. The workers carried national flags and banners in support of their demands. In a resolution, workers urged the prime minister and policymakers not to privatize profitable power companies at the behest of the IMF. They said that the experiment of privatization of private independent power stations and electricity company in Karachi and private companies in Multan and Rawalpindi had already failed. They asked the Prime Minister and the Federal Minister of Energy to intervene and control the tragic accidents of workers in the electricity sector who are overworked in the absence of new recruitment for six years. The workers announced that they would be forced to march towards Islamabad in case their demands were not accepted.
The rally was led by veteran labor leader Khurshid Ahmad, President Abdul Latif Nizamani (Sindh), Haji Ramzan Achakzai (Baluchistan), Haji Iqbal Khan (KP), Javed Baloch (Islamabad), Sarfraz Hundal (Faisalabad), Ch Ghulam Rasool ( Multan), Haji Younas, Osama Tariq, Rana Shakoor, Muzaffar Mateen and others.
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