Senate standing committee orders arrest of KESC CEO
Tabish Gohar had been invited to an important meeting of the standing committee which was held to analyse production capacity, determine the output produced by KESC, to ascertain the per unit production cost and to obtain the details of the power supplied to it by Wapda, DawnNews reported.
The committee, presided over by Senator Zahid Khan, expressed dissatisfaction when the CEO did not attend the meeting despite the invitation.
Committee member Shahi Syed said that corruption worth billions of rupees was taking place at KESC.
Secretary for Water and Power Nargis Sethi said that the parliament is the supreme institution and the CEO should come as he is answerable to the parliament.
Postponing the protest session, Chairman Zahid Khan issued directives for the arrest warrant to the home secretary Sindh.
The KESC chief, however, maintains that the company is not answerable to anyone since it is a private institution.
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"Secretary for Water and Power Nargis Sethi said that the parliament is the supreme institution and the CEO should come as he is answerable to the parliament."
Ms. Sethi. Is your Parliament is answerable to People of Pakistan anyway??
Why does Zahid Khan not order the arrest of Bilour (his fellow ANP member) for 'sinking' Pakistan Railways?
@ali MQM has a lot of influence in KESC currently and they have been supporting KESC on a number of issues.this can be verified. Also Naqvi shb, Head of Abraaj group maintains very good relations with the ruling elite.
Further they have made profits but they owe govt institutions in millions.similarly Transperancy International has also recently asked the Supreme Court to take action against KESC for violating the agreement with GOP which included investments for improvement apart from meter charges, passing on subsidy as well as excess billing. the recent scandal of leaked emails of KESC GM asking his staff to go for excess billing is a clear indication that all is not clear @ KESC's end. Though they have improved services but the irregularities @ their end need to be checked.
This is absurd. KESC is one of the few public utility companies that are profitable. Infact, only this quarter KESC made a profit after 17 years of continuous loss making. Not only this, they have invested heavily in infrastructure development. Shortly they will be able to also start generation through coal fired plants giving them a cost advantage which will then be passed on to the customers. They have also revamped their distribution and bill collection mechanism and now sit pretty at a recovery rate of 88%. PLEASE don't disrupt them in their way back to recovery. Your petty politics will set this institution back on its centennial Anniversary.
@Tayyab Mahmood:
Learn the simple business rule...if you in deep problem no one will invest...so to get investers you have to giv subsidry...wht so difficult in it to understand... CEO has a strong point...KESC is private and you cant do any thing abt it...
@Ali:
U R right...it is a private entity & only can be summoned if case filed in court.....
@Tayyab: KESC isn't the one benefiting from the Subsidy, it's the consumers. If the Govt stops giving the subsidy, the KESC will increase the per unit cost of Electricity, to cover it's losses.
KESC was privatised in Musharraf's time..........and our government is waking up to wrong doings today..........seems highly suspect.
The KESC CEO has a very strong point...it is a private company and SC should be carefull......if Pakistan continues to act like a little kid, no one will do buisness with us.
No one except court can issue arrest orders. Ironically Bilour who has ruined railways never issued an arrest order, but the guy who has turned around a company in loss got them.
"Secretary for Water and Power Nargis Sethi said that the parliament is the supreme institution and the CEO should come as he is answerable to the parliament."
What?? I can't believe that you served as a principal secretary of the PM. Tabish can only be summoned by the court if a case is files against him/company
PS: Bad example to keep the foreign investment further away.
Then why KESC gets subsidy from Govt. People of Pakistan are paying for it and we want answers regarding production costs and cost of Electricity supplied by WAPDA.
Yes, KESC is privatized. Why should they do in front of these people who does not know from right to left.
This has scapegoat written all over it. KESC is a tremendously large & private organization. Don't be surprised later if you learn that people on the committee have had some role to play in this corruption in the first place. KESC is trying hard to improve distribution and weed this out (albeit steadily). Someone's not getting their share from the looks of it.
MQM, ANP and PPP are not happy with KESC because KESC is doing a FANTASTIC job now! They are providing the best services to the bill payers while those people and areas where defaulters are in majority are suffering with load shedding. Since MQM, PPP and ANP dominate in the areas where there is a majority of defaulters, these parties are blaming KESC. Also, since KESC has tactfully gotten rid of the labor union, these parties have lost their influence on KESC and are now using such tactics to pressurize them. In reality, corrupt politicians like those found in MQM, ANP and PPP have NO right to blame KESC for corruption!