KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi has urged the Sui Southern Gas Company to end overcharging and outages for the city's consumers, criticizing a hike of 450 percent tariffs within two years.

After meeting with the gas company's officials, JI Karachi Chief, Monem Zafar told a news conference that the consumers are faced with over billing and load shedding.

He urged the company to scale up gas supplies and shun following the policy of the K-Electric that has traumatized the citizens with outages and excessive tariffs.

Monem criticized the gas company for overcharging customers and imposing severe load shedding across Karachi, despite making gas costlier by 450 percent over the last 22 months.

At the meeting, he said that the JI delegation pointed out public concerns about the company staffers misbehave with complainants, unwarranted fixed charges, unexplained fees for presumed slow-meter and other baffle installation costs.

Instead of upgrading decades-old gas supply lines, the company has resorted to up to 12-hour load shedding in the city, severely disrupting daily life and businesses, the JI Karachi Chief said.

Citing Article 158 of the Constitution, he stressed that Sindh, which produces 60 percent of the country’s gas, should be given priority in gas supply.

He emphasized that SSGC must address the needs of its consumers fairly and transparently, instead of burdening them with poor service and high charges.

He also rejected the proposed dollar-based seven-year power generation tariff for the KE, criticizing the government for providing heavy subsidies to a company, which he described as a "defaulter".

He argued that such policies are unjustified, particularly when KE continues to underperforms and cause hardships for residents across the metropolis.

The JI leader called for urgent reforms in both SSGC and KE, urging the government to prioritize the rights and interests of the people of Karachi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024