ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and many traders organisations have condemned the unprecedented hike in the power tariff and POL prices.
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Monday decided to contact other opposition parties to formulate a joint strategy against the government's decision to raise the power tariff.
According to sources, the opposition leader wants to make a joint strategy on this issue to protest the raise in and outside parliament.Sources said after consultation with other opposition parties, it would be decided whether to call sessions of both the houses of parliament or hold protest rallies.
Meanwhile, Khursheed Shah termed the increase in power tariff as a "callous and thoughtless move, totally disregarding the plight of the poor people of Pakistan"."The raise of four rupees per unit in the price of electricity will place a crushing burden on the people already reeling under inflation, lawlessness and unemployment. The PPP will raise the issue in parliament along with other parties in the opposition with a view to force the government to take back its decision," he said.
He also called upon the government to come out clean on the payments made to the IPPs for clearing the circular debt.He said that the government claimed to have disbursed about Rs500 billion to settle the circular debt but had not given any information as to who got how much money and what was the basis of calculating the amount due to each IPP.
The opposition leader said it was important that the government carried out a detailed technical audit of the IPPs and make public relevant information about the power produced by each IPP, the time during which it was produced, the rate at which it was paid, and the total amount paid to each power producer. "In the absence of technical audit, there will be doubts that a game of favouritism may have been played in doling out hundreds of billions," he said.
He said that the private power producers were obligated to optimally utilise the available plant capacities.He said that in the absence of a technical audit, there were several questions that need to be answered i.e. complete information about a plant's available capacity, optimal capacity that is desired to be achieved, and the timeframe within which it is to be achieved.
He said that there was total absence of transparency in payments of Rs500 billion made to the IPPs. "That makes the latest tariff raise even more suspicious and painful," the opposition leader said.
Our correspondents add from Lahore: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership has also condemned the raise in prices to a level where the life of the ordinary citizens will become even more difficult.
In a statement on Monday, PTI Punjab President Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Gen Secretary Dr Yasmin Rashid said that every 15 days the government squeezed life out of the public by increasing the prices of petrol, gas and electricity. "The increase of Rs5.98/unit is a huge jump in the price of electricity that will result in the price hike of food items, medicines and all other necessities of life," they added.
They said the government was deceiving the public by saying that there was no other alternative. The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), which is an ally of the ruling PML-N, also rejected a massive increase in the power tariff by 40 to 80 percent announced by the government.
PML-F Punjab Secretary General Imran Riaz, in a statement on Monday, said the Nawaz government had dropped an electricity bomb on domestic consumers.
Our correspondent adds from Karachi: Condemning the increase in power tariff, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said that at a time when the country was facing inflation and unemployment, an increase in power tariff would increase the woes of the people and demanded that the government should take back the notification of unjust power hike.
In a statement, the MQM Coordination Committee said high inflation and unemployment had badly affected the people while the prices of commodities had gone up.
The MQM stated that the government should have given a relief to the people at this time of economic crisis and take some positive measures to fight the economic turmoil. Expressing concern, the party further stated that the government had started following the policies of their predecessors and taken loans from the IMF and increased the prices of electricity and commodities.
NNI adds: The All Karachi Traders Ittehad chairman has said the government wanted to electrocute the people, adding the step would cause an unimaginable inflation in every sector.It would be impossible to run businesses at such high electricity rates, he said.
Source : The News
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