Families pay power bills on commercial basis

Residents of TIP say they are being charged on commercial basis for last 30 years

HARIPUR:

The employees of Telephone Industry of Pakistan (TIP) could not get cheap electricity even after 30 years. Over 5,000 families live in the colony and they have raised the issue with the higher authorities several times, but no action has been taken so far.

An affected resident named Gibran Qaiser told The Express Tribune that they were being charged on commercial basis for the last 30 years and even after winning the case from the high court and the federal ombudsman, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and PESCO officials have not resolved their problem. They said that local meters are not allotted to them.

On the other hand, with the heavy electricity bills in several areas, including Haripur this month, the citizens are facing financial issues. Hundreds of consumers have also complained in the last month that Pesco has sent new bills despite the earlier submission of bills.

Another affected citizen, Rafaqat Shahzeb, said that they were labourers who make ends meet with great difficulty and support their families. “We have to leave all our work and go to the PESCO offices to get our bill rectified,” he added.

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The people want to know when Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan, who is the former Federal Minister for Energy, contact the PESCO chief and plays his role in providing relief to people of his constituency from this serious issue.

According to another aggrieved consumer and well-known social worker, Muhammad Naseem Awan, about 15 years ago, the residents of the colony deposited over Rs13 million to resolve this issue.

However, even after years, this problem is still lingering.

Sources said that PESCO has asked hundreds of households in TIP Colony for NOC for installation of domestic electricity meters on which TIP managing director spoke of not issuing NOC to ‘buyers’ which has left the issue unresolved.

A TIP resident, Ali Nawaz Khan, had filed a case in the court of the Federal Ombudsman seeking a solution for the affected consumers. The Ombudsman ruled in favour of the residents of the society against which the TIP MD appealed to the President. However, the decision was in favour of the affected residents, but NOC is not being issued to the residents of the society to implement this decision.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Federal Minister Umar Ayub Khan said that he had called a meeting on this issue in Islamabad. TIP MD and its staff, PTCL, PESCO GM, officers and TIP representatives were also present. Federal Minister had telephoned the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi and apprised him of the situation.

When contacted, Pesco officials said that the matter was being looked into by high-level officials. There are some legal complications, including an ongoing investigation into allotment leases. They added that the order works as per law and not according to the will of the TIP administration or the will of any individual.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2021.