KARACHI – Some 4,000 sacked employees of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) employees, who were laid off from non-core or redundant departments late Wednesday night, attacked the power utility’s head office in Gizri on Thursday, ransacking private property and vehicles.
Protests began on Thursday morning, as enraged employees staged a sit-in outside the power utility’s head office to demand the company to revert its decision. Hundreds of others reached the old head office of the power utility in Saddar, but they were later shifted to the KESC’s new office.
Many of these employees had reached their offices on Thursday morning, only to find out that they were neither needed nor allowed to enter the KESC premises.
“I was deployed at the main gate of the head office, when enraged employees asked me to open the gate,” narrated a security guard. “On my refusal to do so, some of them barged inside the building, beat me up, and opened the gate.”
The security guard claimed that there were merely 50 men on guard duty to resist a mob of 5,000 people. The guards assumed that the workers wanted a dialogue with the KESC executives, but instead, they ransacked property and cars inside the premises.
Some also broke iron pipes from a fountain nearby the KESC House, and smashed the windows of the building. Cupboards and lockers were broken, while company records were torn. Computers and furniture of the company were also destroyed.
Those working inside the building rushed out of their cabins and left the building through the back door in an attempt to save their lives. But a mob of enraged employees rushed towards the parking area, and shattered the windscreens and windows of some 127 cars that belonged to executives and other employees.
A car, bearing registration number ACU-108, was torched, while more than two dozen motorcycles were saved due to the intervention of law enforcers.
The employees’ protest caused gridlocks on roads leading towards the Punjab Chowrangi and Defence Central Library. Much of the traffic flow was diverted to the by-lanes near the head office. Those who had reached Saddar caused a massive gridlock near Zainab Market, Governor House, Karachi Press Club, II Chundrigar Road, Sharea Faisal and other parts of Saddar.
By the time a heavy contingent of police reached the KESC head office, KESC’s installations had already been destroyed. The entire force of Clifton and Saddar towns were later deployed inside and outside the KESC House, while commandos of Quick Response Force (QRF) were also called in to deal with any emergent situation.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO)- Karachi Fayyaz Ahmed Laghari inspected the head office of the power utility, with DIG-South Iqbal Mehmood and Town Police Officer (TPO) Tariq Dharejo Clifton there to brief him about the situation. The CCPO, however, avoided commenting on the incident before the media.
Pushcart vendors from the roundabouts of Clifton and DHA also reached the head office to serve the poverty-stricken warriors with food to replenish their energy supplies, but their stock was soon exhausted due to the massive demand.
Extra police force was also called from Police Training Centre (PTC), Saeedabad on Thursday evening to handle the mob of employees. A water cannon was also summoned to disperse the crowd, were also called on the spot.
Till the filing of this report, many protesting employees had arranged winter clothing as they planned to sleep on the street outside the KESC headquarters in preparation for a protest on Friday.
Photos: AFP, Online
