IESCO employees lock head office in protest

A large number of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) employees on Monday locked the head office of the power distribution company in protest against the expected privatisation of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and induction of private employees on high posts. The workers serving in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad gathered in front of the head office and recorded their protest against the government and IESCO Board of Directors (BoD). Though, the government has assured the WAPDA employees that it has no plan to privatise the institution but, according to the employees, it has been inducting private employees on senior most posts in all DISCOs just to act upon its plan of privatizing the WAPDA.
An office bearer of WAPDA Hydro Electric Union Azmat Awan said the government did not provide any written assurance to them that it had no plan of privatising the company. “Why the government has been appointing private officials on hefty salaries despite the presence of compatible officers in the company,” he said. He feared that the government was appointing private officials on contract basis to privatise the WAPDA by deceiving regular employees. He said he government had formed Board of Directors (BoD) of every DISCO just for the sake of the political benefits. Senior IESCO official Wajid Ali Kazmi told Pakistan Today that the all the members of BoD are not competitive and it was beyond thinking that the people who had no knowledge of WAPDA are making its decisions. He said that the businessmen and politicians were included in BoD, which was making political appointments in all DISCO’s including IESCO.
The protestors said they had given several chances to the government to shelve the plan of privatising the power units, adding that the government after a demonstration a couple of months ago had announced not to privatise WAPDA, Lesco, PEPCO and other power companies, but the private company secretary and consultant taxation had now been appointed in a bid to strengthen its position for privatise the power units. The IESCO workers also chanted slogans against the government. They also asked not to appoint a private CEO of WAPDA and threatened to continue their protests against appointments of outsiders on hefty salaries and to shut powerhouses all over the country.