MULTAN City News

Powerloom workers take to streets against loadshedding
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: The powerloom workers staged a demonstration against prolonged electricity loadshedding at Manzoorabad Chowk near Chungi 14 on Wednesday.
The protesters led by Pakistan Powerloom Association central president Khaliq Qandeel Ansari were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against ever-increasing power tariff. Majority of the protestors belonged to ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. They chanted anti-government slogans, burnt tyres and blocked the road to register their protest against the closure of industrial units due to power shutdown in urban and rural areas falling in the jurisdiction of the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco). They also expressed concern over high power tariff and long duration of power shutdown which had rendered hundreds of workers jobless. They threatened to besiege the Mepco Headquarters and the DCO Office in case their demands were not entertained.
Addressing participants of the rally, Khalid Ansari criticised the government for ignoring problems of the powerloom sector. He claimed the powerloom industry was facing heavy loss as the cost of production had increased manifold due to hike in power tariff. He feared closure of over 35,000 units due to over 10-hour shutdown on daily basis. As a result, about 100,000 workers would lose their jobs, he added.
Ansari threatened countrywide protest campaign if the government did not take immediate and concrete measures to resolve the issue of power loadshedding. He said the PML-N leadership, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, had made tall claims of controlling power outages during their 2013 general elections campaign, but they, after coming into power, did nothing substantial for labourers who had been bearing the brunt of power outages. He claimed that the powerloom sector had been facing 16-18 hours loadshedding a day for the last few weeks. He also criticised the Multan district administration for closing Hafiz Jamal Road without arranging an alternate route.
Talking to The News, powerloom worker Saeed Boota said the powerloom industry was facing many problems as electricity supply remained suspended for hours without any intimation. “The labourers are losing jobs as the owners are forced to close their units due to loadshedding,” he added. Another worker, Shafiq Ahmed, demanded smooth and uninterrupted power supply and said that the outages were affecting the labour class not the millers. “We don’t have any bank balance, savings or alternative means to feed our families. How can we earn bread and butter when the factories are closed,” he asked.