Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the government had decided to start work on the Bhasha Dam and 12 other small and medium-size dams in the four provinces to meet the energy shortfall. He was addressing the 66th national general council meeting of Wapda employees at Bukhtiar Labour Hall, here on Monday.
The federal minister said the government had come to power with the support of the masses and it could not take any decision against public interest. "Workers are our real force and we cannot ignore their interests," he said", adding that despite meagre resources and huge spending on the war on terrorism, the government had launched the Benazir Income Support Programme and given shares to employees of the public sector industrial units in the country.
He also accepted the demand of Lesco employees for an additional salary. "One extra salary has already been given to them," he said. The minister informed he had also announced the incentive of additional salaries to distribution companies (Discos) to acknowledge their efficiency and performance.
Chairman Wapda Shakeel Durrani, General Secretary Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Labour Union Khurshid Ahmed, and other labour leaders including Latif Nazamani, representative of the International Labour Union, and a large number of workers were also present in the meeting.