Some 300 non-gazetted employees of the NJHP Company, a subsidiary of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) executing the Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHP), have been protesting non-fulfilment of their demands, including their induction into Wapda, for three days near the project site. However, neither Wapda nor the Water and Power Ministry has paid any heed to their demands.

The protesters claim they were recruited to work for Wapda, but later classified as employees of the NJHP Company, which they fear will be terminated after completion of the power project.

The government employees demand to be made a part of Wapda so that they may continue to hold stable jobs as Wapda employees after completion of the project, which is expected to be operational in 2018, prior to the next General Election.

The protesters on the third day of the strike held a sit-in outside the office of NJHP Managing Director (MD) retired Brig Mohammad Zareen in the Chattar Klass neighbourhood of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Muzaffarabad area.

Shaikh Altaf, president of the Wapda Labour Union (CBA) in NJHP, warned the government of agitation if the protesters’ demands were not met, adding that the employees would take to the main Muzaffarabad-Kohala road along with their families. “We will also disrupt the construction work if our peaceful protest cuts no ice with Wapda’s management,” he cautioned.

Altaf explained that all employees – whether daily wagers, contractual or regular – were appointed to work on the Neelum-Jhelum power project under Wapda rules.

However, in 2014, they were declared as employees of the NJHP Company “in contrast to the employer’s initial stance that all employees would eventually be a liability of Wapda”.

Despite the fact that the project is close to completion, neither Wapda nor the NJHP Company has devised an HR (human resource) policy which will help secure the future of the non-gazetted employees, he said.

Some four years ago, he explained, the NJHP Board of Directors, headed by the Wapda chairman, had constituted an HR committee. However, the committee failed to devise an HR policy for the employees despite holding at least 10 meetings, Altaf said.

“For the last four years we have been told that the HR policy is being prepared but now we are convinced that the high-ups were employing delaying tactics,” he claimed.

“We are afraid that the authorities just want to keep us calm until the commissioning of the project next year,” he added.

“Unfortunately the more flexibility we show, the more Wapda takes us for granted,” he lamented.

Earlier in January, the employees had staged a protest demonstration on the same issue in Muzaffarabad, which was terminated after the management had made some promises to resolve the issue.

AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider had also written a letter to Wapda chairman in this regard. According to his staff, he too was assured that an HR policy was being formulated for these employees.

Despite several attempts, the NJHP MD could not be reached for comment.