Govt moves to ease electricity bills for flood-hit people

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to provide relief in electricity bills for the people in flood-affected areas, with multiple tax waivers under consideration.

Federal Minister for Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain, speaking to Geo News, said that taxes on the electricity bills of flood-hit households would be waived immediately. He added that while the federal government would provide relief on electricity charges, the provincial governments would take steps to waive land revenue. He noted that the authorities would also take notice of inflated bills issued in flood-affected areas, explaining that many bills had already been printed before the devastation. The minister emphasised that every possible step would be taken to ease the burden on affected citizens.

Rana Tanveer said that once surveys of flood-affected regions are completed, the government will announce a farmers package. He explained that the survey is expected to be finished by the middle of this month and that preliminary data on crop losses has already been compiled. According to the minister, between 1% and 3% of every crop has been damaged by the floods, with the Gujranwala division suffering the most severe blow, up to 18% of crops destroyed. He added that rice fields had taken the heaviest damage overall.

Sources said the proposals include abolition of the general sales tax, the Financing Cost (FC) surcharge and fixed charges on electricity bills. The government is also weighing the removal of sales tax and excise duty on fuel price adjustment, alongside eliminating income tax, additional and surplus taxes, and retailer sales tax from the bills.

The proposal comes as the country reels from its second catastrophic monsoon flooding in three years. Since late June, over 900 people have died, more than 1,400 villages have been inundated in Punjab, and over one million residents have been displaced, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).