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| May 28, 2005 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1426 |
Privatization of PTCL may be delayed
LAHORE, May 27: Privatization process of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited may be delayed owing to growing pressure from its employees. Official sources in the federal capital informed Dawn on Friday that the government had earlier fixed May 28, for bidding. It had changed the date and now bidding would be held on June 10 in view of a nationwide protest by employees against the government’s decision.
“Since there has been no breakthrough in talks between PTCL union leaders and Federal Information Technology Minister Awais Leghari the other day, things are heading for a further delay in the privatization process,” they added.
The sources revealed that most of eight companies qualified for bidding were considering to withdraw after the new situation.
It is pertinent to mention that the government is offering 26 per cent of PTCL shares for sale while 10 per cent shares have already been circulated in the stock market.
Besides possessing 26 per cent shares, the successful company will have 58 per cent voting rights in the board of directors. It will also be getting 26 per cent of profit from the organization.
The employees, who had occupied the PTCL headquarters besides closing all its offices across the country a couple of days ago to build pressure on the government, have taken the extreme step fearing that thousands of employees will lose jobs after privatization.
The PTCL management, on the other hand, has failed to assure them that their jobs are secure.
The sources said major issue was of daily wagers as they felt themselves more insecure after its privatization. Former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Husain had announced confirmation of some 7,193 daily wagers in August last year.
However, they said the management had regularized only 4,400 employees so far. Those who were confirmed had been given a new pay scale instead of BPS, they added.
Interestingly, the issue has brought all nine PTCL workers unions on one platform for the first time in its history.
Meanwhile, the workers union continued to observe a complete strike on Friday and barred officers and customers from entering its offices here.
All emergency numbers and fibre optic exchanges providing service to cellular companies also remained closed, causing inconvenience to its subscribers. A union office-bearer told this reporter that now they would only call off the strike on the assurance that the PTCL would not be privatized.
“After June 6 the employees will jam the telecom and cell phone system of the country if the government does not stop the privatization process,” he warned.
Privatization and Investment Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Federal IT Minister Awais Leghari, however, stated that the government would try to resolve genuine problems of the PTCL employees but it would not withdraw the privatization process.
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