Leaders of K-Electric Labour Union CBA and People’s Workers Union on Wednesday said that the K-Electric was directly responsible for deaths of more than 750 people in Karachi.
In a press conference held at Karachi Press Club, K-Electric Labour Union Chairman Muhammad Ikhlaq Khan said due to unbridled corruption, mismanagement, people face harsh load shedding in this very hot season. He said the privatization of KESC was the basic mistake of the government of that time. He said at that time the labourers had fully opposed the idea and raised their voice against it. He said before the privatization this institute was being run on basic common interests but later it started showing poor performance.
He said copper is known as solid conductor of electricity but after the privatization of KESC costly copper wires were changed with cheap aluminum wires which are considered as least effective conductor. These inferior wires caused frequent tripping of feeders, he said, adding huge money was illegally made by the company with change of copper wires.
Talking on current situation of power outage, he said the K-Electric had started such plants which were closed for long time but due to negligence of administration and inexperienced workers, the department would go in darkness. He said this department was being run on the basis of profit and loss. He said the K-Electric had retrenched 7,000 of its permanent employees in the tenure of Pakistan People’s Party and also appointed others on contract basis.
People’s Workers Union General Secretary Latif Mughal said the K-Electric was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 750 people in Karachi. He said after the privatization of KESC the whole city had been paralysed. He demanded of the provincial government to lodged FIRs against the K-Electric owners.
K-Electric Labour Union President Usman said people face prolonged electricity outages despite paying full bills. He said a number of times they had contacted the federal and provincial governments over the issue of KESC privatization and negligence of KE but both the governments showed lack of interest as these rulers were directly responsible for the privatization.
They demanded of the KE should be re-nationalised for giving relief to the citizens of Karachi.
