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| September 03, 2006 | Sunday | Sha'aban 9, 1427 |
Lakhra power plant privatisation opposed
ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto has expressed concern over the hasty and non-transparent privatization of Lakhra Power Plant at Jamshoro in Sindh and demanded that the plant workers be taken into confidence before going ahead with its privatization.
“Reports that the Lakhra Power Plant will soon be handed over to some private body has sent a wave of resentment among the workers who fear that they would be thrown out of their jobs. Concern has also been expressed over the non-transparent manner of its privatization,” Ms Bhutto said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
She said the workers of “Asia’s biggest coal-based power plant stopped work and blocked the national highway in front of the plant protesting and raising slogans against its privatization”.
The PPP chairperson said the privatization process under the present regime had been exposed for corruption and nepotism involved as in the case of Pakistan Steel Mills that was scrapped by the Supreme Court.
Under the original policy the loss making units were to be privatized but the regime was selling the profit making units at throwaway prices to its cronies, she accused.
Ms Bhutto said the power plant was providing low cost power and jobs to a large number of people but “the present regime wanted to gift it to its cronies and favourites.”
She said workers of the plant must be taken into confidence before privatization and an agreement must be reached with them before it was handed over to the buyers.
The PPP would keep a watch on the privatization process and agitate against corrupt practices, she said and added that the party was committed to fight for the rights of the working class.
Staff Reporter adds: A People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) member of the Punjab Assembly on Saturday alleged that the fire in the Privatisation Commission office was ignited by the government itself to destroy the documents of privatised entities in which irregularities were committed.
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Farzana Raja further alleged that gross violations were committed in the privatisation process. State units were sold to favourites at throwaway prices. “To conceal the facts, all the records were deliberately set on fire,” she said.
The privatisation documents of banks, PTCL, KESC and Pakistan Steel Mill were very important and a big asset, she said. The MPA recalled the Supreme Court decision which recently annulled the privatisation of the Steel Mill, adding that it had exposed the dishonesty of the authorities concerned. She demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan should take notice of the fire incident and order an inquiry to expose the truth.
About the overall situation in the country, she said Pakistan was passing through worst crises. Apart from the host of social issues, the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti has opened another Pandora’s box. Blunder after blunder is committed and now Gen Musharraf should read the writing on the wall, she said.
She condemned the army operation and expressed full solidarity with the people of Balochistan. She said the most backward province had no proper representation in the centre. The handful of representatives are those aligned with the establishment.
Probe: The Privatization Commission (PC) authorities have ordered an inquiry to ascertain the causes of fire that erupted on the PC premises reportedly due to short-circuit on Friday morning, reports APP news agency.
A spokesman said a senior official appointed as inquiry officer had recorded the statements of those present during the incident.
The fire erupted in the wooden photocopier cabin on the second floor of the building and damaged the adjacent two cabins housed by some lower staff and an officer.
The fire also damaged two working and two condemned photocopy machines, three computers, two old windows, AC and one split unit along with the furniture and carpets.
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