ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Water and Power Secretary Younus Dhagha has said that WAPDA employees are involved in electricity pilferage and the government faces difficulties in launching any action against them because of weaknesses in the system.
He admitted this in a National Assembly (NA) standing committee here on Monday. The committee met here under chairman committee Arshid Khan Leghari Monda.
The Minister for Water and Power admitted before the committee that “Kissan Ittehad Council (KIC) is a gang which uses electricity by depositing Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 per metre. KIC has thrashed the employees but the proceedings could not go ahead due to intervention of Punjab government. Khawaja Asif also offered to the Sindh government to reduce the outstanding electricity bill even if they agreed to pay it in installments.
The Minister was responding to the complaints by Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, both belonging to the PPP and Sindh province. They complained that power distribution companies of Sindh were poorly managed and prolonged load shedding occurred there.
Ghulam Mustafa Shah said that the consumers of Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) faced up to 16 hours of load shedding.
Similarly, Nawab Yousuf Talpur criticised Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) and said that apart from prolonged load shedding, a large number of employees had been fired from HESCO for no reason. However, instead of responding to the issues raised by them, Khawaja Asif asked the MNAs from Sindh to get the ministry of water and power to resolve their issues.
“Things have been settled between Sindh and the Centre several times but still they are not paying us,” he said, “This was a problem the previous PPP government faced in Sindh too.” He cited the example of a police station which was allowed to use electricity without a metre – but the minister added that the said police station had provided a connection to around 150 houses around it.
“At the same time we have been issuing huge bills in the name of schools that do not even exist,” the minister said.
He said that non-payment of bills was a serious issue for the power sector and told the committee that Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) had an outstanding of Rs 36 billion in terms of overdue electricity bills.
“The Sindh government has to pay around Rs70 billion in this regard – we are ready to reduce it by half but only if you are ready to pay – we will make it in instalments,” he said, adding “You belong to Sindh and your party is in power there – we expect you to play an active role in this regard.” The committee was informed that all the earlier agreements between the Sindh and Federal Governments have failed to materialise due to non-payments.