LARKANA, Jan 27: The Wapda workers on Monday staged a demonstration to protest against arbitrary laws, enacted in 2000, which, according to them, had enabled the authorities to dismiss employees without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

The demonstration was organized under the aegis of the Pakistan Workers’ Confederation (PWC).

The protesters, who converged at the local press club, demanded of the government to revert these laws.

On the occasion, leaders of the PWC, including Azam Jarwar, Alidino Khuhro, Nisar Shaikh and Khalid Chandio, accused the Wapda management of sacking hundreds of employees. They added that cases of many employees, belonging to the Larkana circle, were still pending.

The government, they said, had stripped the trade unions of powers, effectively crippling it while such steps had added to the miseries of the poor workers.

Labourers, they said, were facing hardships because they had been transferred from their home stations to far-flung areas, which had created a sense of insecurity among them.

They demanded of the government to restore the trade unions’ authority, while calling for regularization of all contract employees.

They urged the Wapda authorities to stop retrenchments and deduction of Rs400 from the salaries of employees of grade-6 to grade-15.

They also called for halting the process of sending workers on forced retirement.

committees formed: The Sindh education department has constituted four inspection and monitoring committees, knowledgeable sources told this correspondent on Monday.

These committees, they said, would suggest measures to improve the standard of education in colleges and higher secondary schools, working under the boards of education or affiliated with the universities in Sindh.

Each of the seven-member committee would be chaired by the additional secretary, they added.

The committees, they said, would operate in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana.

Sources said that the terms of reference of these committees would be to conduct surprise visits, monitor the overall performance of colleges and higher secondary schools besides furnishing consolidated reports to the secretary of education.

These committees, they said, would also look into the affairs of the teachers, students’ attendance, and academic environment as well as the general discipline in these institutions.

Meanwhile, a team consisting of the chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Larkana, Ali Nawaz Palejo, the EDO (Education), Prof Shahnawaz Memon and the principal of the Government Degree College, larkana, Prof Imdad Memon, on Monday visited various institutions.