Labourers for hydropower project end protest

By Our Correspondent

MANSEHRA: The labourers working on 830 megawatt SukiKinari hydropower project have ended their 10-day protest after the assistant commissioner of Balakot and director Labour Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assured them that action would be taken against the company executing the project if it didn’t meet their demands within two weeks.

A meeting was held with director Labour Department IrfanullahMarwat in the chair. Assistant Commissioner of BalakotNawab Samir Leghari, Director Labour Department in Hazara division Faizullah, president of Labour Union of SukiKinari dam workers TahirHussain Shah and representatives of the company executing the project attended the meeting. Irfanullah Marwat told the meeting that the CGG company should follow labourer laws, which guaranteed the basic rights to workers and a uniformity in wages, health benefits, holidays, death claims and other perks and privileges.

“The company should fix wages of workers, otherprivileges and incentives in accordance with the labour laws within next two weeks or else legal action would be initiated against it,” said Marwat.

He said the next meeting of all stakeholders and district administration would be held in Islamabad where a memorandum of understating would be signed between the labour union and the company executing the project. The leaders of workers, TahirHussain Shah accepting the decision of director Labour announced an immediate end to the sit-in. “We accept the decision taken by Labour Department and end our protest,” said Shah. The workers had forcibly suspended work on the project being built at Kunhar River in Kaghan valley some 10 days ago after company didn’t accept their demands.