HYDERABAD, April 8: Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi assured workers of the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco) on Saturday that there would be no job cuts after privatisation of the company. Instead, the workers would get more facilities under a private management, the minister told a news conference at the Hesco office in Power Colony.

He said the government could not forever provide subsidies to power companies. They would have to stand on their own feet as they were commercial entities, he added.

Mr Jatoi said he would meet with the Wapda union in a few days to try to allay workers’ fears about privatisation.

To a question about big dams, he said the country was in dire need of new water reservoirs. Work was likely to commence on Bhasha Dam very soon followed by other projects, he added.

Appointment of vigilance teams and task force had worked in reducing losses and increasing recoveries, the minister said, adding that line losses had dropped from 33.9 per cent to 33.5 per cent.