The Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) on Thursday criticised the government’s withdrawal of export sector power subsidy in conformity with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions for the loan agreement.
MNA Sheikh Fayyaz Ud Din during the question hour session raised his query pertaining to details of tariffs charged to the Export Sector namely the textile industry. Sheikh opined that due to the economic crunch the textile industry was already facing a recession and expensive electricity would further deepen the burden of crisis for the sector.
MNA Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali said the IMF was bickering on the fundamental decisions made by the government to assist its masses.
He demanded that the country could not be left on the IMF conditions but rather that the government must take action to control the exploitation of its masses.
MNA Wajiha Qamar on her point of opinion said the government should immediately halt free electricity units provided to the officials of Grades 16 to 22, including the Ministry of Energy.
She suggested that the government should increase domestic income by giving free units as subsidies to the export sector.
MNA Muhammad Abubakar said K-Electric was not increasing its power generation capacity despite a capacity buildup agreement signed with the federal government. He said the industry in Karachi had halted due to power outages leading to unemployment in the metropolis serving as the backbone of the economy. He proposed that solar power generation systems should be installed in public offices, educational institutions, and others operating in the daytime to save electricity. MNA Nafeesa Shah demanded the parliamentary secretary to pay attention to the crippled power infrastructure of Sindh’s flood-hit districts that were not repaired so far.
She added that in her constituency district, some 100 power transformers were stolen which left the area without electricity. Parliamentary Secretary, Rana Iradat Sharif Khan informed the house that the export sector subsidy of Rs19.99 tariff was withdrawn as per the condition of the IMF and it would be charged routine tariff imposed on other sectors. Its tariff would fluctuate as per the power production cost, he added.
He said the power division’s responsibility was to indicate the cost of power whereas the finance division was the one to fix subsidies and tariffs after calculation. Rana informed the House that the industrial and agricultural power subsidy was called off with effect from March 1.
However, he said the main subsidy was provided to lifeline consumers of below 200 units and was uniformly distributed among all distribution companies. Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar said IMF had no objections to budgeted subsidies but rather imposed conditions on the rest. He also noted that the federal government was mulling over introducing wind power projects along with solar energy initiatives to make up for the energy shortfall of the country.