Electricity Problems: Farmers protest at WAPDA office

Farmers claimed that their meters were disconnected despite the regular payment of bills.

BAHAWALPUR: Farmers, led by Pakistan Farmers Unity (FU)President Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar, protested outside the office of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) sub engineer on Wednesday.

They claimed that their meters were disconnected despite the regular payment of bills. Meters were disconnected and transformers removed late night by Wapda officials, said Anwar. He also expressed shock over the clandestine way in which Wapda had handled the whole affair. He said people in Punjab have been charged doubled the amount due so that Wapda could make up for non collection of bills in the other provinces. SE Muhammad Aslam Tahir invited the FU secretary and president to his office to settle the issue. He said that Wapda officials were always willing to cooperate, but gas and fuel shortages had pushed the price of electricity up. He said that government had withdrawn 25 per cent subsidy which had increased the price of electricity from Rs4.55 to Rs8 per unit. He promised that electricity would be restored as soon as the farmers paid their bills.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2012.