A National Data Registration Authority (Nadra) official recently stole utility bills worth millions of rupees in Sargodha. Following the incident, hundreds of residents have protested after Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and Sui Northern officials removed the meters of the ‘defaulters’.
“We had paid our bills in full but we are being punished for something that should be Nadra’s responsibility,” said Sargodha resident Maqsood Ahmed.
According to Nadra official Razaq Kiani, “We are trying to determine the client list that was affected by the theft but there are too many people and it will take time. The official, who ran away managed to steal millions of rupees and we can’t allocate the entire amount in days,” he said.
“It isn’t our responsibility to keep check on the crooks in Nadra offices. We shouldn’t be made to suffer for this but we are,” said Abdul Khaliq.
Wasa officials said that they had no choice but to cut off meters when the bills were unpaid.
“All we know is that the company has tightened its regulations regarding defaulters and these people are defaulters.
Our bills were not paid. If it was Nadra’s fault then they should pay the bills on their behalf but we cannot keep the meters running for free,” said a Wasa official.
Hundreds of people protested in Sargodha after their gas, electricity and water were cut off a few days ago.
“We submitted the bills in full and yet there are entire streets without any water or gas supply,” Chak 24-LB resident Aurangzeb said.
The locals said that Nadra employees had bungled hundreds of bills that had been submitted with the Nadra kiosk at Block No6. “They are saying they need to investigate but they hardly ever have more than three people manning one kiosk. If they know which kiosk it is then why aren’t they submitting the names of the employees,” Aurangzeb asked.
The protesters said that they would submit a report with the local police in this regard.
“We should not be expected to pay double the bill. We barely manage to save up to pay one bill.
This is Nadra’s negligence and it is their job to deal with it,” said Khaliq.
Nadra kiosk franchise owner Muhammad Khalil said that Nadra had already begun returning money to the people who had been affected. “This isn’t true.
I haven’t gotten any money yet and now I have been listed as a defaulter it will take at least a week to have my power and water restored at the rate these proceedings usually take,” Khaliq said.
Khalil said “It has taken us a while to confirm the list of people affected but we have released the funds for their bills and they will get their money back.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2011.
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