October 30, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 17, 1428

PESHAWAR, Oct 29: Wapda employees held a demonstration outside the Peshawar Press Club on Monday in protest against the kidnapping of Mukhtiar Khan, a driver in the department.

The provincial deputy secretary of the Pakistan Wapda Hyrdo-Electric Central Union, Mustajab Mazdooryar, criticised the provincial government for its failure to recover the driver.

He alleged that the authorities had not taken any steps to recover their colleague.

The protesters raised slogans in favour of their demands and blocked traffic on the Shershah Soori road.

Mr Mustajab said despite kidnapping of employees and attack on the Water and Power Development Authority’s property, the government had failed to act swiftly to meet their demands.

He said it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to deliver unhampered services to people.

He said the employees had opted for peaceful means to register their anger, but they would not tolerate injustices any longer.

The senior vice-chairman of the union, Ali Said, said the international financial bodies had been pressurising the government to privatize profit-earning units at throwaway prices to multinational corporations.

He warned that Wapda workers would not tolerate the plunder of national assets. He said the privatization of Wapda would translate into an increase in the energy charges.

He called upon the government to control the deficit in Wapda by initiating rightsizing in the officer cadre.

He asked the Wapda authorities to take effective and concrete measures against the kunda culture.