Daily Times

Sir: The difference between a private and government owned organisation is very striking. The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) saw that politicians were not in a position to deny paying any bills they owed because all known pending bills would mean that they would be disqualified from taking part in the elections. Therefore, before the nominations could be announced, PTCL announced to the public the exact amount owed by each and every politician. You would expect the cash-starved government owned organisations like SNGPL, KESC, SSG and WAPDA to be the first ones to ask for their overdue bills but, unfortunately, even after reading about the politicians’ mad rush to pay their PTCL phone bills two days ago, I was amused only to find reports of SNGPL and WAPDA crying in the newspapers about going bankrupt in the next few months. With such a lazy attitude towards recovering their bills, no wonder these companies cannot survive. Ironically, these are the same companies that have been complaining to everyone about how politicians owe them huge sums of money from the connections of gas and electricity to their private homes and businesses and how they are helpless to recover these amounts.

If these organisations consider themselves to be professional and capable, then they should hold a press conference where they request all politicians to pay their bills. To make this easier, they can also post the amounts and names of persons who owe this amount on their websites as well. If there is no such request from these organisations, then that means they are trying to cover up the overdue bills of the politicians in order to gain their favour.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER

Peshawar