09 December 2004	Thursday	26 Shawwal 1425

LAHORE, Dec 8: The government has been urged to build new hydel and thermal power houses in public sectors on war-footing to generate cheap electricity for industry and agriculture to face the globalization challenge next year.

The voice was demanded by the Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union and Karachi Electric Supply Company Employees Union at a joint meeting held at the Bakhtiar Labour Hall here on Wednesday.

The office-bearers of the two unions said the power tariff in Pakistan was the highest in the world at present and reduction in it was the need of the hour. They opined that the cheap electricity could be generated only by the public sector hydel and thermal power houses as power costs in the country had increased to the highest in the world after installation of thermal power houses in the private sector.

The unions formed a six-member committee comprising WHECLU president Abdul Latif Nizamani, secretary-general Khurshid Ahmed and Sind provincial secretary Iqbal Khan Qaimkhani and KESC union office-bearers Ikhlaq Ahmed Khan, Abdul Latif Moghal and Haji Shahzad Khan to coordinate efforts for tackling the problems being faced by the power sector workers and resisting the privatization of the public sector power generation and distribution units under the World Bank pressure.