LAHORETHOUSANDS of electricity and Wapda workers observed a protest day Tuesday here under the aegis of All Pakistan Hydroelectric Workers Union (CBA), against the government policy of power outages and rising prices of electricity. They demanded the government to adopt the policies for generation of cheaper electricity through hydel, gas
By our correspondents
March 04, 2015
LAHORE THOUSANDS of electricity and Wapda workers observed a protest day Tuesday here under the aegis of All Pakistan Hydroelectric Workers Union (CBA), against the government policy of power outages and rising prices of electricity. They demanded the government to adopt the policies for generation of cheaper electricity through hydel, gas and coal-fired thermal power stations in public sector and introduce administrative reforms to raise productivity of electricity power wing instead of keeping the electricity state owned companies under the control of the private members of board of directors who had no investment of even a single rupee. They had been made the owner of the companies despite having conflict of interest. They demanded the prime minister to review the policy of the privatisation of electricity, since it was the basic need of the citizens, national industries and agriculture and commerce. The private companies of Rawalpindi and Multan had failed to provide electricity in those cities in the past. Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has been receiving 650 Megawatts Electricity from Wapda daily at far cheaper rates and has not been paying its dues. It has been receiving billions of rupees subsidy every year from the government while closing its own thermal power plants in order to earn double profits. It was acknowledged by Federal Minister for Water and Power himself before the Senate Committee.
