The lawmakers in Senate on Tuesday demanded the government to immediately start installation of mini-hydel power plants in areas where there is no electricity and accord priority to Balochistan where about 75 percent population is still without this vital facility. The senators were speaking on the House Special Committee report on circular debt which was later adopted by the Senate.
Balochistan National Party-Mengal Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini said that several districts of his province are getting electricity 3 hours a day, which has crippled agriculture, while industry already does not exist in the province. He blamed those, who do not bother to pay electricity bills, for piling up of circular debt, besides corruption, mismanagement and lack of command and control system. He added the transmission lines in the province could hardly bear load of 500MW. He also called for solarization across the province.
The BNP senator regretted that Balochistan is the richest province in terms of natural resources but is the poorest in every walk of life among other provinces. He pointed out marble is being taken out from his province while the marble city was set up in Karachi. "If you keep on denying services and infrastructure to Balochistan, this will add to distances instead of closeness. Please give power connections to Balochistan as you give to the people of Punjab," he said.
Senator Abdul Rehman Malik lauded the report but proposed that the report should also recommend action against those responsible for piling up of circular debt. He alleged that Sindh is discriminated despite having massive potential for wind energy and the government denied its tariff and foreign investors left this project in Thattha. The denial was made after it was found out that Punjab had not much potential for wind energy.
JI Senator Sirajul Haq called for economic documentation to separate the rich and the poor and that there should be accountability of those having a role in circular debt build-up.
PTI Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak proposed that mini-hydel power plants be established in far-flung areas while as many as 364 such plants were installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in last five years. The cost of electricity, he noted, is less than Rs 2 per unit. He pointed out while on one hand, the former government of PML-N claimed to have added 11,000 MW electricity to the national grid, while on the other power consumption by industrial sector has come down.
He said that the government should move towards setting up energy markets and that the market forces should determine tariff. He justified Balochistan senators' criticism of respective governments for denying basic facilities like power to their province. He regretted that a power supply line could not be laid in all these years and Makran is continued to be supplied electricity from Iran.
Senator Khattak said Iran has stopped power supply after payments were not made to it. He called for having professionals in the Power Division, whereas presently only one professional is part of it and he is from NESPAK.
Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said that no one would be allowed to bully or humiliate political opponents in the country. He was giving response in the Senate regarding registration of a fake FIR against Hafeez Buzdar Baloch, who contested election against the Chief Minister of Punjab and the alleged incident of torturing of his family members.
The minister said after conducting a thorough investigation, it has been found that the Punjab chief minister has nothing to do with the incident.