HYDERABAD, Dec 29: The central president, Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union, Abdul Latif Nizamani, has said that when the working class was groaning under the weight of price hike, the deduction of generation, special and hardship allowance from the salaries of Wapda employees was tantamount to their economic murder.

He said this while addressing an urgent meeting of the provincial union the other day.

He said that no less than 132,000 Wapda employees would be affected due to these uncalled for deductions.

He said under the presidential ordinance 2002, many Wapda employees had either been sacked or sent on forced retirement which had greatly demoralized and discouraged the workers and led to many accidents.

Mr Nizamani claimed that these allowances were being paid to the workers since long and not a fresh burden on Wapda.

He said the deduction of allowances should be stopped immediately lest the employees resorted to protest.

He appealed to the prime minister, the president, the Federal Minister for Water and Power, chairman, Wapda, Zulfiqar Ali Khan, and the chief executive, Hesco, Brig Tariq Arshad, to reconsider the decision regarding the deduction of allowances to end unrest among the workers.

PEGHAM UNION: The central president, Wapda Employees Pegham Union, Sirajuddin Saqib, while presiding over a provincial meeting of the union the other day, has warned that the union would not tolerate deduction of allowances from the salaries of the workers.