HYDERABAD, May 5: Activists of civil society and nazim of union council Haji Sawan Khan Gopang, Hyderabad (rural taluka) on Monday threatened to launch a movement against the OGDC if the company did not give jobs to locals.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club on Monday, Naseeruddin Nahiyoon, Tanveer Nizamani and others said that union council Haji Sawan Khan Gopang was very rich in oil and gas reserves. Twenty wells had so far been discovered in the area, he added.

They said that the 10 operational wells produced thousands of barrels of crude oil and a large quantity of gas every day. The OGDCL was earning tens of millions of rupees per day from oil and gas but it was violating all agreements and had failed to provide jobs to the local people.

They said that in LPG Kunnar Plant, 300 persons were employees but almost all had come from other provinces and the locals were denied employment. They said that only recently 100 persons had been appointed on contract basis at Kunnar LPG plant and Pasahki oil field who all were outsiders.

They claimed that Sindh produced 62 per cent of total production of oil in the country and 70.1 percent of gas but the local people were not being given employment.

They claimed that under the Petroleum Concession Act, it was the legal obligation of the company to provide 25 per cent of jobs to local population but the law was being openly flouted.

They threatened to launch a movement against the company from May 10 if the local people were not given jobs. To a question, they conceded that out of 350 employees, 60 were Sindhis but insisted that they did not belong to the local area.

Load-shedding: The Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) has urged the Hesco chief to make efforts in bringing an end to load-shedding as industrialists not only face huge losses but also unable to meet their export commitments.

The demand was raised during a meeting between the delegation of Chamber and Hesco Chief Guftar Ahmed Anjum, here on Monday. The delegation comprised of the HCCI President Haji Mohammad Yaqoob, Senior Vice-President Mohammad Akram Arain, and Nadeem Siddiqui and Hafiz Naseerddin.

The delegation told the Hesco chief that industrial production had suffered colossal loss due to daily 10 hours of load-shedding in Hyderabad. They said that physically they had become incapacitated to honour their export commitments.

The delegation also apprised the Hesco chief of unjustified detection bills and said the decisions on false bills was not taken for months together by Hesco authorities.