HYDERABAD, Oct 23: Employees of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), on the call given by Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union, staged demonstrations and rallies across the province (CBA) on Tuesday in protest against proposed bifurcation and privatisation of Wapda and growing joblessness, price hike, lawlessness and terrorism in the country.

In Hyderabad, hundreds of Hesco employees led by central chairman of the CBA, Abdul Latif Nizamani, provincial secretary Iqbal Kaimkhani, Malik Sultan and Qazi Saleem Anwar staged a procession, which started from Labour Hall and terminated at the press club after marching on different roads.

Mr Nizamani said that 150,000 Wapda employees would not tolerate the authority’s bifurcation at any cost. The administration of Wapda in Sindh paid half month’s salary to employees as Eid advance although the Punjab government had paid full salary to all its employees, he complained

He demanded that the half month salary should be counted towards bonus else the employees would refuse to accept salary of current month. The employees would stage rallies throughout the country on Oct 30 on this issue, he said.

Mr Nizamani blamed government’s inefficiency for growing terrorism, lawlessness and unemployment and condemned bomb blasts in Karachi on Oct 18.He warned that if the authority did not revise pay-scale of all the non-clerical staff on the pattern of clerical staff the employees would resort to tool down strike.

Hesco employees in Shikarpur staged a rally and a demonstration at Lakhi Gate Tower Chowk. Labour leaders demanded shelving Wapda privatisation policy and urged the government to accept their demands.

They said that there seemed to be separate laws for Wapda employees in Punjab and Sindh. Presently, Wapda had no power generating unit due to which there would be more load-shedding during next summer, they said.

They offered fateha for the innocent people killed in Karachi blasts and expressed grief over the sad demise of revolutionary poet Sarvech Sujawali.

In Nawabshah, members of CBA staged a rally and a demonstration at Manuabad.

The union leaders Fazal Shaikh, Inamuddin Qureshi, Saleem Taj and Anwar Chandio said that the half salary was given to them on the directives of Wapda chairman before Eid but it was not being converted into bonus and was being deducted from their salaries.

They demanded that the deduction of Eid bonus from their salaries should be stopped and Ordinance 2000 and privatisation policy should be withdrawn.