LAHORE: Police to escort Wapda staff - Disconnection, recovery
By Our Reporter
LAHORE, April 21: Police will escort the Wapda staff deputed to disconnect power supply of defaulters for security reasons.
This was stated by Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) chief executive Zahid Bashir while addressing Wapda workers and office-bearers of various trade unions from different parts of the country at a meeting held here to observe the 11th death anniversary of labour leader Bashir Bakhtiar on Wednesday.
He said he had brought the matter to the notice of the Punjab governor who had promised to provide police escort after discussion with the IGP. He said police could also be sent with the Lesco staff deputed for the recovery of arrears from defaulters.
Mr Bashir paid rich tributes to the late Bashir Bakhtiar, and said his comrades were following his policy of resolving disputes peacefully by holding negotiations with the officials. He said line losses could be reduced and recovery of arrears could be accelerated with mutual cooperation between the employees and the employer.
Khurshid Ahmad said the line staff maintained the power supply risking their lives. On many occasions they had to work without safety gear and switching off the power supply. Paying tributes to the late Bashir Bakhtiar, he said he had given great sacrifices for the cause of the labour and he had never adopted the policy of confrontation and resistance and always preferred to solve the problems peacefully.
He said the pacts signed by one of the former governments for generating thermal power by IPPs at the rate of Rs6 per unit had increased the power tariff beyond the capacity of poor consumers.
He said the Wapda's former management had banned the CBA union which was lifted after the ILO intervened. ILO representative Basharat Ahmad said ILO had opposed the ban on the workers union and Pakistan's representative on its governing body Khurshid Ahmad had played an important role in lifting of the ban.
He said the ILO would extend all cooperation to the workers to promote healthy trade union. Pakistan Workers Confederation president Chaudhry Talib Nawaz said the PWC was following the guidelines provided by the late Bashir Bakhtiar for the solution of workers problems.
He said that the service of Mr Bakhtiar for the workers cause could not be forgotten. He had left behind a team of dedicated and hard working labour leaders. PFUJ former president I. H. Raashed highlighted the problems of the journalists and newspaper employees and sought the cooperation of all workers of the country to solve them.
He said with the new labour laws like IRO the working community had been deprived of their rights. He urged various federations and confederations of workers to forge unity to form a trade union congress of Pakistan to solve their problems at one platform.
Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub of All-Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions, Imran Tajammal of PTCL Employee Union and many other labour leaders paid rich tributes to the late Bashir Bakhtiar.
