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Karachi: Karachi Electric Supply Company has strongly condemned Monday’s terrorists’ attack at the utility’s head office and planned armed attempt to cause blackout in the City during the Eid-ul-Fitr festival.
The utility demanded immediate arrest of the armed gangsters belonging to labour union and supported by external elements that carried out planned attacks at various strategic installations to paralyze the entire power supply system. During indiscriminate firing, the armed union terrorists injured KESC head offices’ security in-charge, two guards and three policemen.
They disconnected communication network of central control of KESC, the Load Dispatch Centre at Elandar Road; damaged Gizri Grid Station transformer. Several attempts were made by the union mobsters to cut down optic fiber network of central control causing risk of complete shutdown of power supply to the whole City.
The armed union gangsters besieged the head office and fired gunshots the whole day making the utility’s top management and visiting consumers including women hostage. The miscreants jumped inside the head office building and opened gunfire upon the security personnel and employees.
Three security officials, including the Security Officer of KESC head offices, Col. Asif, were injured in the firing. Police was called but the armed union mobsters persisted to exercise violence and sabotage throughout the day and even injured several policemen.
While strongly condemning the Monday attacks, KESC exhorted upon the executive authorities to take strong measures and execute justice to prevent violence by the Labour Union which had gone beyond control and was nothing less than a violent outfit which needed to be condemned.
KESC recalled that on July 26, at the end of about three months’ sabotage and disruption by the union, the provincial and City authorities had guaranteed to pre-empt any violent action from the union but it had re-started only after a month’s gap.
A big number of the attackers comprised of dismissed employees who had serious violation charges against them. Under the agreement signed between the management and the union through important mediation by Governor Sindh, the utility had already paid Ramazan Relief Package to non-core employees and in addition to that, a voluntary Eid Kifalat Package had also been released on purely humanitarian grounds, KESC said.
These packages were in line with the management’s commitment at Governor House meeting to provide some monetary consideration to the surplus non-core employees till their individual cases were decided by the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC). The management had already provided names of officials for membership of the DRC but the union had been delaying nomination of representatives to the Committee thereby causing unnecessary hindrance in resolution of disputes.
KESC said that some elements within the union with possible support of external elements had been trying to hijack the situation to serve nefarious interests by causing law and order situation in the City.
KESC has submitted detailed report of the Monday’s violent incidents to NEPRA and the Federal Ministry of Water and Power.
For more information, contact:
Adil Murtaza
Assistant Manager, Media and PR
Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited (KESC)
2nd Floor, State Life Building No 11, Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar, Karachi
Tel: +9221 9920 7163
Cell: +92346 822 3641
Email: adil.murtaza@kesc.com.pk