Prime Minister to open Guddu project in March: up to 2,000 megawatts power to be inducted in system this year: Abid
State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali on Saturday said that 1,500 to 2,000 megawatt (MW) electricity would be inducted in the system during the current year and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate the first phase of Guddu power project in the first week of March, which would generate 242MW power.
Addressing the member of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Saturday, he said Guddu power project would be commissioned in 2015 but "we would complete all the three phases in nine months before the schedule and it would generate 747MW electricity." He lashed out at the previous government for its indulgence in rental power scam and Ogra scam.
The minister said "I have suspended the Executive Engineer and SDO of Dera Ghazi Khan who were involved in criminal connivance of power theft and 32 cases were instituted in Shadan-Lund town who were stealing the electricity." He claimed that about electricity worth Rs 242 billion was being pilfered, and the same amount of subsidy was provided to consumers each year across the country.
He further said 99.9 percent electricity was being pilfered in Larkana, KPK and Sukkur Electric Supply company region. He said legislation against power theft had been approved by the Parliament, providing for Rs 2 million fines with two to three years imprisonment for power pilferers. He said there was 18 to 20 hours loadshedding in the past, which had been reduced to six to eight hours by the government efforts.
He said for the first time in the country's history, a campaign was launched against power thieves, which was not against any particular district or province. He said about 10 million power units were saved after crackdown against power theft in Larkana. Abid Sher said there were reports of many incidents of power theft in KP and cases have been registered in this regard. He pointed out 90 percent electricity was being allegedly stolen in area of Shah Farman, provincial minister of KP province.
He lamented that the minister was making protest instead of following the rules. He assured that in upcoming summer, power outage would be reduced to six to eight hours. However, load shedding may be increased to 20 to 22 hours in the areas with huge line losses. The minister said "we have challenged the judgement of Peshawar High Court in the Supreme Court in which court had fixed low-tariff for the people of KP."
He said recovery of Rs 60 billion had suspended due to this verdict. Consequently our circular debt increased. He also assured to redress the grievances of the Ginners. In his address, Vice Chairman Muhammad Aasim Sheikh said ginners were neither power thieves nor defaulter of Mepco and they were paying Rs 42 billion taxes per annum.
Ex-vice chairman Shehzad Ali Khan said the government should ensure uninterrupted supply of power to 1,250 ginning factories of the country. This industry was not involved in power theft. He suggested legislation against the seed and fertiliser mafia, which was fleecing the farmers with both hands besides destructing the country's agricultural economy. Chairman of PCGA Mukhtar Ahmed Khan Baloch highlighted the problems faced by the ginners and demanded for granting representation in board of management of Discos.
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