LAHORE: Hundreds of workers of the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union held a rally against the skyrocketing petroleum prices, causing unbearable inflation.

Participants in the rally raised slogans in favour of their demands and against the rising inflation.

In Lahore, workers organised a rally at Bakhtiar Labour Hall and demanded the prime minister and all chief ministers to immediately take measures to reduce the prices of petroleum products and electricity so that poor people may get a relief from the burden of inflation.

“The government must terminate agreements of purchasing expensive electricity from IPPs and, instead, increase the production of low-cost hydel electricity,” union secretary general Khurshid Ahmad said on the occasion.

He urged the PM and the Punjab CM to increase salaries and pensions of employees working in the government, semi-government and private institutions, including factories and media organisations, proportionate to the inflation, in the upcoming budget. He also demanded that the minimum monthly wages be fixed at Rs60,000 and old-age pension at Rs40,000 per month.

He called for lifting of the ban on recruitment in the electricity department to eliminate unemployment and stressed that vacant posts should not be abolished and broader employment opportunities be created.

He further demanded reduction in tax deductions from the salaries of lower-grade employees, while bringing big industrialists and landlords into the tax net.

He emphasised reducing dependence on foreign loans and adopting a policy of economic self-reliance in order to eliminate poverty, unemployment and social inequality.

He also urged the federal government and the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) to improve administrative efficiency, instead of privatising profitable companies.

He said the working class has always played a vital role in the economic and social development of the country and would continue to do so in the future.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026