Pakistan: Union threatens to suspend power supply
19 March 2012
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On 4 March 2012, leaders of the Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Labour Union threatened to suspend supply of electricity in Sindh in the first phase of their protest if the government does not shelve privatisation plan of Wapda, end load-shedding and bring down the power tariff.
Union president Abdul Latif Nizamani who was addressing a gathering of workers said the negotiations held with the government showed that it did not honour its promises.
He accused the government of not providing coal, gas and oil to its own power houses, thereby creating an artificial shortfall of electricity in order to purchase expensive electricity from private power houses "to earn commission".
He urged the government not to destroy Wapda like the KESC to get $2 billion from the IMF and the World Bank.
General secretary Khurshid Ahmed said the government was purchasing a unit for Rs40 to Rs50 from a Turkish company's power house anchored in Karachi and Wapda was selling the same unit to Kesk for Rs8 to Rs10. "How can this organisation be run? It is purchasing power on cash and sellilng it on credit," he asked.
He demanded that the government must revoke agreements for purchasing expensive power and upgrade Wapda's power houses for providing inexpensive power to people.
Source: Dawn newspaper, Pakistan