PPP, PTI lash out at KE, each other

PTI MPA calls for urgent action to stop power utility's 'brutal exploitation' of citizens

As leaders from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) condemned the continued load-shedding by K-Electric that has been making life miserable for the inhabitants of Karachi, both parties also took the opportunity to hurl accusations at each other.

Stating that K-Electric (KE) had become 'Killer Electric' for Karachiites, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh called for urgent action to stop the power utility's 'brutal exploitation' of the city's electricity consumers.

PTI's Karachi leadership continued its sit-in outside the KE head office in the provincial capital on Monday, shouting slogans against the mistreatment of citizens by the company in the form of excessive load-shedding and overbilling.

"KE is sucking the blood of Karachi's people," insisted Haleem as he spoke to the media, flanked by other elected representatives from the party. "After several people were electrocuted due to its faulty supply lines last monsoon season, it had made many promises but none were fulfilled."

Claiming that the power supply company had not spent a single rupee on improving its infrastructure, he said he and his colleagues were there to hold it accountable before the public.

Turning to the Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) allegations that KE was run on the orders of the PTI-led federal government, Haleem pointed out that the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) had been privatised in 2009, when the PPP was in power in both Sindh and the Centre.

"KESC's privatisation was one of the biggest frauds in the history of Pakistan," he claimed, demanding a forensic audit for both before and after 2009.

He alleged that people from the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement had received jobs, benefits and extortion money from KE and had joined it in looting citizens. "There are no thieves or any such beneficiaries in the ranks of the PTI," he added.

Haleem demanded the immediate halting of power outages in the city, adding that the Centre was providing 480 megawatts of electricity to KE as well as sufficient gas and furnace oil. Lambasting KE for 'lying' about the lack of furnace oil supply, he further accused it of selling copper wires and replacing them with cheap, substandard ones.

Holding PTI responsible

Meanwhile, lashing out at the Centre once again, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh held the PTI-led federal government responsible for long hours of power suspension in both the metropolis and other parts of Sindh, as well as the overbilling of customers.

"Complaints of inflated bills are pouring in from citizens. It is an injustice to them," he insisted. Adding that KE's power tariffs were raised by the Centre despite the Sindh government's objections, he demanded that the hike be reversed.

Terming the PTI leadership's continued sit-in a 'joke', he said it was the federal government that had imposed a ban on the import of furnace oil, which had led to load-shedding of up to 15 hours a day in several areas of the city.

Pointing out that Karachi was the industrial hub of the country - with consequently high electricity demands - the minister stated that the utility company was generating less power than the city's needs.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2020.