HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union general secretary Khurshid Ahmad has warned the government of countrywide demonstrations if it tried to privatise the Jamshoro or other powerhouses.
He was talking to Hesco employees at the union office after his arrival from Lahore on Tuesday.
He said salaries and perks of ministers had been increased manifold but workers were groaning under hyperinflation.
Mr Ahmad also condemned the publication of sacrilegious cartoons in European newspapers and demanded that the government should sever diplomatic relations with countries where the blasphemous caricatures had been published. He also called for a ban on import of goods from these countries.
He said the union was doing its best to resolve problems of Wapda employees and urged workers to maintain unity in their ranks. He said if Wapda failed to provide protection to employees while performing duties, they would stop work.
Union president Abdul Latif Nizamani criticized the increase in essential commodities. He warned the government that the union would resist privatization of national enterprises. He maintained that if Wapda organizations were sold out, power tariffs would increase manifold.
He demanded that the price of sugar should be decreased.
He also demanded exemplary punishment to people involved in publishing the blasphemous cartoons.
Later, Wapda employees, led by Mr Ahmad, Mr Nizamani, Iqbal Qaimkhani and other union leaders, staged a rally outside the press club against the publication of the blasphemous cartoons.
DISCONNECTION: Hesco on Tuesday disconnected power supply to government departments for failing to clear their dues.
A spokesman for Hesco said that at many places, the company staff was held hostage by defaulters. He said that when Qasimabad SDO Imran Shaikh and his staff disconnected power supply to the polytechnic college, against which Rs491,000 was outstanding, they were made hostage.
He said large scale disconnections had been carried out in Latifabad, Talhar, Badin, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Nawabshah, Tando Adam, Sukkur, Larkana and Khairpur.
The director, commercial, Hesco, Syed Khurshid Ahmad, said more than Rs3 billion was outstanding against Sindh government departments and autonomous bodies.
DEMONSTRATION: Activists of the Jeay Sindh Students Federation held a protest demonstration and staged a sit-in for one hour outside the press club here on Tuesday against imprisonment of federation president Kehar Ansari, Zafar Korejo, Shahmir Burdi and others.
Speaking on the occasion, district JSSF president Suria Sindhi, Nadir Bugti, Imtiaz Mangi and others said Kehar Ansari and Zafar Korejo had been languishing in jail for four years without any reason.
They alleged that Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz leader Shahmir Burdi was held incommunicado and tortured for two and a half months by agencies and now a charge-sheet had been submitted against him in the anti-terrorism court in what they called a false case. They said an operation had been launched in Sindh against workers of nationalist parties.
SAU RESULTS: The controller of examinations, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, has announced results of second term supplementary examinations of BSc-II (hons) agriculture, second professional DVM, third professional DVM and first professional BE agriculture, new course.
He also announced results of supplementary examinations of ME agriculture, first term.
MEETING: A meeting of the advisory committee of Hesco and the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry held on Sunday decided to reactivate Hesco customers centres and not to include surcharge in current electricity bills.
Hesco circle-I superintending engineer Mohammad Moosa Mirbahar presided over the meeting which was attended by officials of the commercial section, Gari Khata and Latifabad Hesco divisions, and representatives of the HCCI.
HCCI representative Mohammad Akram Arain expressed disappointment over performance of Hesco customers centres.