Electricity Bills: Farmers protest MEPCO notices for payment

Farmers planned bigger protests if the caretaker government did not give them more time to pay their dues, says Malik.

BAHAWALPUR:

Sutlej Bridge in Bahawalpur remained blocked for more than four hours as the Pakistan Farmers Unity led a rally to protest against the Multan Electricity and Power Company (MEPCO) notices for immediate payment of pending bills.  

Some of the farmers accused the previous government of betraying them saying it had promised to fix the price of electricity at Rs8 per unit.

They said they had also made an agreement under which farmers could pay their electricity bills in a 12-month installment plan. But, they said, as soon as the government completed its term and the caretaker government took over, farmers were issued notices telling them to pay their bills immediately. They said the notices warned of referring their cases to NAB if the bills were not paid. Hafiz Hafeez Ahmad Malik, the Pakistan Farmers Unity Bahawalpur chapter president, told The Express Tribune that the farmers planned bigger protests if the caretaker government did not give them more time to pay their dues.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2013.