Aqil, born in 1973 in Pakistan, had never been educated in school and could not read. He lived in a mud house of only two rooms with four sisters and his parents and the whole family lived by farming. As the oldest brother in the family, Aqil started to grow wheat with his parents when he was quite young and had never left the farmland even once.
In 1993, the 19-year-old Aqil heard that the Chashma nuclear power plant was to be constructed 10 kilometers from his home, which made him too excited to sleep. Days later, dressed in his shabby gray long-sleeved shirt and slippers and keeping it dark from his parents, Aqil sneaked to the nuclear power plant, applying for recruitment at the gate. His passion, smartness, curiousness and diligence made him stand out from the other applicants and Deng Qingwei, head of the sand-gravel related work of the project, arranged for him to work there.
During the Chinese New Year, some Chinese employees returned to their hometown for the holiday, leaving vacancies in the on-site operations. Deng found that Aqil was quite smart and hard-working. He sometimes could complete two people's work alone in the scheduled time and had learned a lot of Chinese in less than six months. Deng then started to teach Aqil some technique skills and arranged a Chinese teacher for him. Within two years, Aqil learned how to operate and drive the loading equipment, the road roller, the platform lorry, the watering cart, the garbage collector and the concrete tank truck as well as cars and the crew cab, and obtained a driving license for various kinds of vehicles and machines. Aqil became an ace at the construction site who was able to operate various kinds of machinery vehicles, making him a backbone employee of the Pakistani workers.
Because of his hard-work, motivation and outstanding performance, Aqil was transferred from the project department to the administrative department and was promoted as the head of the Pakistani driver department. "Safety first" was the byword of the day for him. He would read the traffic rules at the beginning of every daily meeting, stressing "no speeding and no unnecessary overtaking, timely vehicle maintenance and services, and no driving without a license". During his 23 years of driving at the Chashma nuclear power plant project, Aqil has been adhering to the principle of safety first and never had any accidents for more than 1.75 million kilometers of travel. His safe driving earned him the reputation of an advanced and outstanding Pakistani employee for safety for many years. Later, Aqil was promoted as a manager at the Karachi nuclear power plant project and was rewarded as an outstanding employee together with his son in October 2019, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Aqil and his son wish China all the best. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Relying on his ability and the income he gained by working for the nuclear power plant project, Aqil built five brick houses for his family and lived a happy life.
The Chashma and Karachi nuclear power plant project built by China National Nuclear Corporation has driven regional development in affected areas, benefiting local people by providing jobs and improving their incomes.
(Executive editor: Li Zhiyong)
