PTI Punjab President Ejaz Chaudhary said the utter bad governance of Ministry of Water and Power has been exposed. By issuing show cause notices to heads of five power distribution companies for their failure to control electricity theft the Ministry has admitted that they have failed to control electricity theft.
He said Abid Sher Ali always talks about electricity theft in KP and if it was true then why his Ministry did not serve show cause notice to PESCO. He said interestingly Abid Sher Ali???s Ministry also served show cause notice to Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) for its failure to control electricity theft. Faisalabad is hometown of Abid Sher Ali and if he cannot control electricity theft then how can he control it i the rest of the country he added. He said Khawaja Asif and Abid Sher Ali both of the ministers have failed to perform despite being in office for two years. We will see if they make any difference besides paying lip service he added.
Secretary General Yasmin Rashid said privatization of WAPDA is not the solution as we have seen intense protest against the privatization staged by the employees of WAPDA. Until and unless we do not end corruption from within WAPDA ,the line losses would continue to rise she added. She said where is the money is going as we have seen people paying bills standing in unacceptably long lines. She said why Abid Sher Ali is reluctant to take any action against the big guns who never bother to pay their electricity bills. They directly tap into the supply lines and there is no way to stop this type of theft without rigorous and surprise inspections she added.
Information Secretary Andleeb Abbas said Ministry of Water and Power???s crude and silly approach to a serious problem of electricity theft seems to be a publicity stunt only. By issuing show cause notices nothing is going to change until we change the system, which is corrupt to its core she added. She said why Abid Sher Ali goes after his colleague politicians, who believe that they are above the law.
She questioned why have Ittefaq Foundry owners electricity defaulter of Rs.40 million not paid up their electricity bills the public would like to know. She said recovery teams should be made and their progress should be made public and across the board action should be taken against the power defaulters irrespective of their political affiliations.
Media Cell
PTI Punjab