Power to the people

KHANGARH: Despite announcements from the prime minister, the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) has issued electricity bills to people in the flood zones of the Muzaffargarh district.

On the direction of MNA Jamshed Dasti, local mosques made announcements asking people not to pay their electricity bills. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had waived off electricity and Sui gas bills for more than 1.4 million affected people in the district during his visit to the flood-hit district, on Dasti’s request. Despite these directives, bills have still been issued. Expressing deep anger and resentment at Pepco officials, Dasti announced that residents of Tibba Karimabad, Muzaffargarh and Khangarh should refuse to pay any bills. The Pepco chief and managing director was informed of this announcement and said that a policy was being drafted, according to which four months’ bills of people residing in the flood-hit areas would be waived off. Meanwhile, addressing the people in Rajanpur, Tarand, Khachiwala and Haji Mor, Dasti said that they would not accept the judicial inquiry of Khosa’s cutting wrong breaches at Head Taunsa and diverting the flow of water towards Muzaffargarh, destroying peoples’ homes and crops.

“We do not trust the judicial inquiry headed by the LHC Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif as he claimed in an address in Dera Ghazi Khan that he was friends with Zulfiqar Khosa and often went to meet him there,” Dasti said.   He demanded that a parliamentary committee be formed for a transparent inquiry of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2010.