Govt’s plan to privatise OGDCL assets opposed

KOHAT: The central workers union of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on Friday vowed to strongly resist the government’s plan to privatise 10 per cent assets of the company. In this regard, All Pakistan Ittehad Union activists, led by its vice-president Abdur Rashid Shinwari, held a protest walk from Shuhada Chowk to Kohat Press Club and chanted slogans against the government. Addressing a press conference, Mr Shinwari later said that the government could privatise strategic organisations like OGDCL only over their dead bodies. He termed the government’s plan an economic murder of the labourers. He said that the success of OGDCL was its operational performance which had resulted in discoveries of new oil and gas reservoirs besides two new sites of hydrocarbon. He said that the company had increased the profit of the shareholders and strengthened its own financial position by augmenting its pure profit by 135.8 per cent during 2013-14. He said that OGDCL earned a profit of Rs123.9 billion during the same fiscal year. The union leader said that the production of oil had risen to 41,330 barrels and gas to 25 metric tons daily. He offered the government that if it needed money the OGDCL could lend money to it without claiming any profit, but its privatisation would be strongly resisted all over Pakistan. Mr Shinwari demanded an end to corruption in OGDCL and termed the unqualified managerial staff as burden on the company. He alleged that senior staff of Mela-3 rig was involved in corruption and demanded investigations against them. He warned that if the government did not drop the OGDCL sell-off plan they would expand their protest from Kohat to Karachi. Published in Dawn, Aug 9th, 2014