Powered Off: Mepco pulls the plug on TMA

Mepco disconnects power supply connections for water supply, sewage and street lights in city.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

The Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) has disconnected power connections of the local tehsil municipal administration (TMA). Mepco cut off the power connections after the TMA failed to pay its bills totalling Rs440m.

Mepco has also disconnected power supply connections for water supply, sewage and street lights in the city, which are all operated by the TMA. MEPCO executive engineer Abdul Raheem said that if the TMA failed to pay its bills within two weeks, the connections would remain closed and they would be billed in excess for each day they failed to pay their bills. Disconnection of the water supply system has caused severe problems for locals in the city. “It is the peak of the summer season and our water connections isn’t running. We called the TMA offices to fix them but we found out they had been shut off because the TMA hadn’t paid its bills,” said a resident Adnan Pirzada.  TMO official Ifikhar Fida Mir said that the TMA had paid Rs900,000 to MEPCO. “This amount isn’t even close to the amount the TMA owes us,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2011.