Govt to get electricity duty directly into its account after new law

Lawmakers clarify it is not a new tax, merely an attempt to receive the duty withheld by utilities.

KARACHI: The government will now be able to receive the electricity duty directly into its accounts after the new law passed on Wednesday.

The law enables banks, post offices and other bill collecting agencies to collect and deposit the electricity duty directly into the government head, rather than the utility companies supplying electricity.

Moving the bill, Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah clarified that no new “tax” or “electric duty” is being imposed. All the power utility companies, including the Karachi Electric Supply Company and the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company, are collecting a government duty on electricity for the past several years, but they are reluctant to deposit that money into the government account.



“These utility companies owe around Rs5 billion to the provincial government and are not willing to pay the outstanding amount, ever since the dispute over billing began,” he said. This law will enable the government to receive the amount directly as soon as any resident pays their bill.

‘Evacuate Pakka Qilla, I can build a university’

The issue of Hyderabad University surfaced on the floor of the Sindh Assembly once again on Wednesday. As the session started with Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the opposition leader Syed Sardar Ahmed diverted the speaker’s attention toward yet another statement issued by the education minister, Pir Mazharul Haq. “The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has not specified a venue for the university, so I cannot build the university in any corner,” Ahmed quoted Haq as saying earlier.

At the time of the legislation, the venue is not normally mentioned, pointed out Ahmed. “We have passed a number of charters for universities without mentioning the name,” he said, adding that they have already informed the government that they want to establish the university in Gulshan-e-Sarmast in Latifabad. Another MQM MPA Dr Sagheer Ahmed insisted the government assure them that the university will be established.

“I do not oppose the idea of the university, but there was no place in Latifabad for the varsity,” Haq responded. “Please help us to evacuate Pakka Qilla [a historical monument in Hyderabad] and we can build the university over there,” he said. The MQM lawmakers were annoyed by this statement, since the neighbourhood is the party’s stronghold. Later, Haq apologised.



The assembly also passed a bill into the law to establish a board, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Human Resources Research and Development Board, which will undertake research to develop human resources in order to provide skills and vocal trainings for unemployed people.

Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that this is a distinctive programme launched by the government in 2008 and it has trained around 0.2 million young people between the ages of 18 and 35. He said that government wanted to continue this programme, therefore, it has made into a law.

A bill was also passed to establish the Sindh Institute of Ophalmology and Visual Sciences Institute in Hyderabad to provide modern medical facilities to the residents and allow them to undertake postgraduate teaching programmes. Meanwhile, another bill was also passed attract domestic and international investment in coal and mining for power generation in Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2013.