Utility turns off power in Imran’s house

PTI core committee accuses government of cheating consumers of an estimated Rs70 billion through overbilling

ISLAMABAD:

Civil disobedience cost Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan his electricity connection as the capital’s electricity provider cut off the power supply of his residence on Monday.

Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) snapped power supply to Imran’s residence located in Bani Gala hours before the PTI core committee meeting.

“We disconnected power supply to Bani Gala – Imran Khan failed to pay off his electricity bills,” confirmed Iesco spokesperson Fayaz Siddiqui. He said Imran was supposed to pay a bill of Rs130,700 for his three separate metres.

Imran Khan had declared civil disobedience in August this year and urged people not to pay their taxes and utility bills to the ‘fraudulent’ government.  He had also set his electricity bills on fire last month, saying the government had failed to curb power theft.

Siddiqui told The Express Tribune that after serving a notice to the PTI chief the company had warned him that his electricity connection would be cut off if dues were not cleared.

Here it must be noted  that in April this year, the IESCO – in a major crackdown against defaulters – cut power to the President House, Supreme Court, Prime Minister’s Secretariat and Pakistan Secretariat including the offices of the Ministry of Water and Power. However, power was restored within hours of the disconnection.



Later, the PTI core committee accused the government of cheating consumers of an estimated Rs70 billion through overbilling.

“Government paid off circular debt on the pretext of ending load-shedding but load-shedding has increased after this payment. Electricity bills went up by 80% and despite that a loss of Rs1 billion a day still continues,” PTI spokesperson Dr Shireen Mazari told The Express Tribune.

The core committee also decided that the party would continue its sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad. Insiders told The Express Tribune that the core committee was particularly convened to look into the Friday incident, in which seven of the PTI supporters had died in a stampede in the Multan rally.

The committee renewed its demand for formation of judicial commission to investigate the incident. However, the statement issued about the meeting had no mention of the tragedy.

The committee also decided to support an independent candidate Amir Dogar, who is contesting by-election against PTI’s former president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi scheduled for October 16.

PTI’s Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who had left for Multan and could not attend the entire meeting, was reported as saying that the party was ready for mid-term election.

At the same time, Qureshi asked the government to tell in black and white whether it wanted to have meaningful dialogue, which had hit deadlock after over a dozen rounds.  Addressing the media, Qureshi said there should be mid-term elections if it is proved that the May 2013 general elections were rigged.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2014.