CCI meeting: Clear your power bills, PM tells provincial, federal govts

Meeting decides in principle on equitable distribution of electricity.

ISLAMABAD: During a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Thursday, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed that the federal and provincial governments to clear their current electricity bills promptly.

"If any person or body has any complaints about over billing, it should be settled within a month,” he added.

The meeting decided that the recommendations of the 10-member committee on equitable distribution of electricity be accepted in principle. The council further decided to include Principal Officer of the Ministry of Finance in the committee to work out the mechanics of implementation of the decision.

The meeting also debated the issue of provincial representation in federal entities. The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa proposed that:

1. The provinces may be given at least 40% representation in the Management Boards of all such institutions, regulatory bodies and other entities falling within the purview of subjects and items of Federal Legislative List Part-II.


2. CCI may also direct the concerned ministries for providing comprehensive data of all such institutions including list of entities, laws applicable and governing such bodies, composition and power of their management boards. The matter was debated in the CCI and it was decided to defer the matter for consideration by the next meeting of CCI.

Another item on the agenda of the meeting was the National Mineral Policy 2012 proposal, which was approved by the CCI subject to concurrence by Chief Minister Sindh.

Ashraf said the government was also committed to hold free and fair general elections so that people of Pakistan could exercise their free will to choose their government for next five years.

He added that the council in its nine meetings has discussed and taken decisions on vital matters of national importance, having considered 54 issues from federal as well as provincial governments with most of the decisions being implemented.