KP Assembly witnesses debate on power cuts

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday continued debate on electricity loadshedding as the members complained about unprecedented outages in the province that generates cheapest hydel power double than its consumption.

Initiating the debate, Ahmad Kundi of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa generated cheapest hydel power but even then the province was facing prolonged loadshedding.

He said only Tarbela Dam generated 17 billion units electricity annually at a cost of just Rs15 billion and the total consumption of KP was 10 billion units a year but the province was facing severe loadshedding which was great injustice.

The provincial government has failed to raise voice for the rights of the province despite the fact the same party was in power in the centre. “Why the PTI provincial government is silent on the rights of KP including arrears on account of net hydel profit, oil and gas royalty and unprecedented power loadshedding?” he asked. He added the provincial government had compromised on the rights of the province.

Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the previous government under Nawaz Sharif had brought an end to loadshedding by generating thousands of megawatts electricity but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which is power in the province and centre pushed the people into darkness one again. He complained the speaker was following the ruling party’s line that was why he was not given the floor to speak on the resolution.

He said PML-N had a clear stance against militancy and condemned such words, but the passing of the resolution in haste was injustice after Maulana Lutfur Rahman’s apology on the floor of the House.

Shakeel Bashir Khan, Waqar Ahmad Khan, Salahuddin and Nisar Mohmand of ANP, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shafiq Afridi from Khyber District and Laiq Muhammad Khan from Torghar also complained about hours-long power cuts and said the province was generating hydel power double than its consumption but has been facing unprecedented loadshedding.

They also complained of low voltage and the problem of trifling. It was an injustice that people are spending life without electricity in this 21st century, they added. They called for an early solution to the problem and providing uninterrupted power supply to the consumers.

Minister for Culture and Labour Shaukat Yousafzai in his reply said the provincial government had raised the issue of provincial rights at the meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) and Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken notice of it directing the formation of a committee for the purpose.

He said federal minister for water and power and other officers had come to the Chief Minister’s House today (Monday) for discussing the issue. However, he said outdated transmission lines was the main problem due to which the province was facing power shortage. Replacing the transmission lines required Rs40 billion as presently the transmission lines cannot withstand the load.