21 August 2004	Saturday	04 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Aug 20: The Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation employees action committee, while condemning the proposed privatization of the KESC, has warned that if the decision was not withdrawn, it would launch a protest movement from September 3.

This was stated by leaders of the KESC employees action committee while speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Friday. Leaders including Muhammad Ikhlaq, Latif Mughal and others spoke.

They said that owing to the privatization, which is being carried out on the directives of the international financial institutions, the KESC if handed over to some multinational company, would sack a large number of employees which would further aggravate the unemployment situation in the country.

They said the private party would increase the power tariff, and the industry, already facing difficulties in competing in international markets, would find it impossible to export goods.

They said they had come to know that the government was also offering to absorb transmission and distribution losses - which totalled around Rs16 billion - for around three years to make the privatization process lucrative for the private party.

They said the multinational company, which would own the KESC would not only have access to highly sensitive installations but would also take its profit out of the country.

They also demanded that the trade union activities that had been banned in the KESC for over five years should be restored so that workers could negotiate with the management for increase in wages, which had not been done for nearly half a decade.

They demanded that all facilities, including medical, Haj quota etc, that had either been withdrawn or had been difficult to obtain, be restored. They also criticized the management for purchasing vehicles worth over Rs220 million.

They further demanded that professional management be brought into the organization, which could financially turn around the KESC, and bring it out of losses, making it a profit earning company.

They said if the authorities did not accept their demands, the KESC employees action committee would launch a protest movement, beginning with a rally at the KPC on September 3.