Industrial community has urged federal government to permanently withdraw the Industrial Support Packaged Adjustment (ISPA).
Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry (BQATI) President Naveed Shakoor and Patron In-chief BQATI Mian Muhammed Ahmed said that industries have received supplementary bills in the name of ISP adjustment but due to Corona virus threats and lockdown, it is impossible for industries to pay bills.
Naveed Shakoor said that K-Electric recently imposed Industrial Support Package Adjustment (ISPA) arrears retrospectively in the electricity bills from July 2019 to December 2019, making it impossible for the industrialists to pay such huge amounts included in the current bills that have risen sharply.
He said the utility service provider has although deferred the unjust ISPA arrears but the sword keeps on hanging over the business and industrial community as the last date of electricity bills with ISPA arrears is 30.4.2020 and the matter needs urgent attention of federal government which must ask KE to withdraw ISPA charges and resolve with KE only without putting this unconstitutional burden on consumers.
Naved Shakoor urged the Chairman Cabinet Committee on Energy and Ministry of Energy to issue directives to K-Electric to permanently withdraw ISPA arrears which would certainly provide relief to the industries particularly in a situation when their production has drastically gone down and they are facing additional cost of doing business by paying salaries and arranging food stuff and rations etc. for their idle workers and also daily wage earners who remain confined to their homes due to the lockdown imposed to prevent further spread of the life-threatening disease caused by COVID-19.
Mian Muhammad Ahmed said that markets are currently in an unstable state due to the issues of coronavirus and sharp drop in crude oil prices and situation caused by COVID-19, the economic and production activity is almost halted and an economic war-like situation is ahead.
He said that all such costs, transaction, adjustments, bills and payments during the period of July 2019 till Dec 2019 has become a past and closed transaction as the cost and expenses for the productions during that time has been accounted for by the industrial units and the same cannot be adjusted or revised at this stage.
Keeping in view the current scenario and the disaster caused by the outbreak of coronavirus which has brought down the industrial production to somewhere around 25 to 30 percent.
Mian Muhammed Ahmed said that the decision to discontinue industrial support packages was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet in its meeting held on June 26, 2019 which became effective from July 1, 2019 but it was not followed by K-Electric and now all of sudden they demanded the entire amount retrospectively from July 1, 2019 to December 2019.
President Korangi Association of Trade & Industry (KATI) Sheikh Umer Rehan has said that industry could not bear the additional electricity bills in the name of ISPA sent by K-Electric, KATI demands PM Khan to take notice of the situation.
Sheikh Umer Rehan mentioned that due to Covid-19 pandemic economy and industry have already been going through the worst times and any additional burden would make our survival more difficult.
He said we have already raised our concern regarding ISPA and KATI have also sent a letter to the Prime Minister.
Senior Vice President KATI, Muhammad Ikram Rajput said that economy is on standstill all over the world and our local industry was trying to keep the production running in this scenario how could we be able to pay more bills when we're facing our normal utilities and production cost.
Vice President KATI, Syed Wajid Hussain urged the government to resolve this issue. "This is the question of survival of the industry in Karachi," he said.