September 22, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1429

SUKKUR, Sept 21: Apprehending loss of jobs, hundreds of employees assembled in front of the gates of Qadirpur gas field with a pledge to resist the government’s privatisation plan.

The protesters, including women and children, blocked the main gates of the field which they said was harnessed by their blood and consisted of their villages and agricultural fields sacrificed for the development the major gas field of the country.

The protesters, led by labour leaders Ilmuddin and Agha Shahid, gathered in front of the main gate of Qadirpur gas field, while shouting slogans against the government.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against its privatisation, they termed the privatisation of Qadirpur gas field as a conspiracy and pledged to resist any such move.

A leader of People’s Labour Bureau, Ghotki district, Daimuddin Kalhoro, expressed concern over the privatisation of Qadirpur gas field and said that Ms Benazir Bhutto had inaugurated Qadirpur gas field and since then it had created job opportunities to thousands of people and demanded of the government to scrap its privatisation.

A joint venture of the Oil and Gas Development Corporation and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited, each having 75 per cent and 25 per cent shares respectively, Qadirpur gas filed is currently producing 600 cubic feet gas on commercial basis and earning approximately Rs100 million on daily basis. It is also producing 1300 barrels of crude per day which is refined through a liquid handling facility at Hyderabad. The liquid is pumped through pipelines up till Tando Alam fields and an income of approximately Rs750 is earned almost daily, sources said.

According to experts, Qadirpur has 25 gas wells in operation while three others are at an exploration stage. This gas field, located adjacent to Ghotki, meets 33 per cent of the total gas requirement of the country, experts believe.

Our Hyderabad bureau adds: Leaders of OGDC Mazdoor Ittehad Union (CBA) have warnt that they would rather sacrifice their lives than allow the privatisation of the OGDC.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Sunday, the vice-president of Sindh chapter of the union, Sain Bux Dehyo, joint secretary Abdul Hameed Arain, Aijaz Khoso and others said that the general body meeting of the CBA union was held at Islamabad on September 20 which had made it clear that the central leadership of the union would rather sacrifice their lives then allow the privatisation of the corporation.

They said the union had decided to launch a protest movement against the proposed privatisation of the company before Eidul Fitr while the Punjab region will stage a protest sit-in outside the parliament house on Monday.

Sain Bux Dehyo announced that all the company’s employees of Sindh working in the fields rigs engineering department and other sections will stage a major protest demonstration outside the Hyderabad press club on September 25 against the proposed privatisation of the company.