Business Forum of Punjab (BFP) President Ibrahim Qureshi has said the government should launch a recovery drive from different departments to save the power generation companies from liquidity crunch, as the issue of circular debt would not be resolved even after the issuance of Rs 82 billion TFCs.
The government should disconnect electric supply of the departments not paying electricity bills since years, he said, adding: Otherwise the energy crisis would remain unresolved despite high-level meeting chaired by both President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani time and again.
BFP President deplored that the government departments/ autonomous entities and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were defaulting month after month on clearing the electricity bills to the distribution companies. Ibrahim said the periodic efforts to overcome circular debt problem through the issuance of Term Finance Certificates (TFCs) besides release of meagre amounts from the Finance Ministry to ensure sustainable fuel supply to power generation companies were proved futile exercises. All those efforts had an impact for a very limited time period only, he added. He said the government could not put the energy crisis on the backburner as it was increasingly becoming politically untenable for it amidst violent street protests throughout the country.