Parliamentary secretary slams ministry for info blackout

ISLAMABAD: A rare situation was witnessed in the National Assembly during the Question-Hour as Parliamentary Secretary for Poverty Alleviation Azhar Leghari complained that the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation did not brief him about the questions related to the ministry.

During the Question-Hour, parliamentary secretary for poverty alleviation registered the complaint that the Ministry did not brief him about the questions. The speaker NA took a strict notice of the complaint and asked the senior joint secretary to bring the relevant secretary to ensure his presence. Later he deferred the question.

MNA Syed Hussain Tariq sought an explanation from Parliamentary Secretary Cabinet Division, regarding the financial impact of Rs76 billion write off by K-Electric over unrecovered dues. In the written reply, the Cabinet Division told the National Assembly that the write off amount shall be approved by the KE BOD, which certifies that KE has made all best possible efforts to recover the amount. In turn, the KE auditors verify that the amount is non-recoverable notwithstanding the efforts of the company. In case any amount written off is subsequently recovered from the customer, that amount shall be adjusted in next year’s tariff.

Confirming Rs76bn as the write off amount, the Cabinet Division gave a whole breakdown of the amount. It said on July 19, 2018 the K-Electric write off Rs6.195 billion, on October 18, 2019 it write off Rs3.371 billion, on 24 April 2020, the K-Electric write off Rs4.060 billion, on November 5, 2020, the K-Electric write off Rs7.5 billion, on August 2, 2021 the K-Electric write off Rs15.9 billion, on August 18, 2022 the K-Electric write off Rs15 billion, on October 9, 2023, the K-Electric write off Rs15.264 billion and March 18, 2025, the K-Electric write off Rs8.131 billion.

However, Tariq could not be satisfied and remarked that if a few houses failed to pay the bill, the power utility cut off feeders of the entire village. Besides, all the Sindh-based legislators raised similar complaints about Discos. The speaker asked the Minister of State for Power, Abdul Rehman Kanju, to resolve the issue with the legislators and deferred the question.

Minister of State for Power Division Abdul Rahman Khan Kanju told the NA that the Power Division had already filed a review petition with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) against the tariff adjustment decision of the Karachi Electric. He said the ministry was committed to pursuing the issue for an early decision and added that the Power Division categorically opposed the increase in tariff. “If this amount accumulates over the coming years, it could run into hundreds of billions of rupees,” he said, and added that the ministry would oppose the adjustment at every stage.