Centre seeks NA panel’s help to recover Rs70 bn power arrears from Sindh

Sindh not paying arrears for over six years; KP has to pay
20.5 bn, Punjab Rs5 bn and Balochistan Rs4.5 bn

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has sought help from the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water and Power for recovering Rs70 billion from the Sindh government, as the province’s various departments have not paid their bills to the Centre over the last six years.

It is worth mentioning that a few months back, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had turned down the ministry’s proposal to deduct at source the electricity bills of Sindh from its divisible pool of taxes, saying that the move could lead to political unrest. The committee met here on Monday with MNA Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari in the chair.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif requested the committee to help the Centre in the recovery of the outstanding amount from the Sindh government.The committee members complained that distribution companies had charged Sindh consumers millions of extra units, making it difficult for them to pay. 

Other provinces also owe billions of rupees to the Centre of which Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has to pay Rs20.5 billion, Punjab Rs5 billion and Balochistan Rs4.5 billion. Khawaja Asif said since 2010 the Sindh government had not been paying its outstanding electricity bills.

He said as Murad Ali Shah was expected to be the next chief minister, the members of the National Assembly from Sindh should form a committee and help the Centre in settling the issue.Asif further said out of this huge amount, only the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) owes Rs36 billion to the federal government.

“Despite their huge outstanding, we cannot disconnect electricity to schools, police stations and the KWSB in Sindh. Coal mining has been started in Thar and soon it will become an energy hub,” he said.

Secretary Water and Power Mohammad Younus Dagha admitted that electricity theft could not happen without the involvement of Wapda employees. He said the matter could not be resolved without the cooperation of provincial governments.

Dagha further said the government had received many complaints of overbilling from  tubewell owners and the government had formed a committee to settle the issue.

He further said majority of complaints were from the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) and Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco). He said in Multan, out of 2,100 complaints, 1,300 had been solved.

Dagha said Mepco and Lesco had been directed by the government to settle the issue of overbilling by end August 2016.MNA Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan complained that there had been overbilling of around 40 million electricity units in his constituency (NA-146 Okara).

The committee recommended the ministry to take the provincial governments onboard to resolve the matter of theft and also take strict action against the culprits.

It also directed the Ministry of Water and Power to eliminate the factor of overbilling in order to facilitate the consumers.

Earlier, Khawaja Muhammad Asif briefly apprised the committee of different power projects of (hydel, solar, wind, coal, etc) initiated by the government to overcome the power shortfall.

Besides, the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) also briefed the committee on projects undertaken by the Board from 2013 to enhance the production of electricity in the country, their date of commencement, present status and expected date of completion. Present status of development projects/schemes of National Transmission Dispatch Company (NTDC).

The minister took notice of forced loadshedding of electricity in some Discos and directed the management to inform the committee about the matter.

MNAs, Muhammad Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry, Malik Ihtebar Khan, Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar, Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Malik Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Junaid Akbar, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, Dr. Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal and Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub besides officials of the ministry attended the meeting.