Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar warned the Senate on Thursday that the entire country would be unplugged if the facility of free power supply to WAPDA officers and workers was suspended.
In a question hour at Senate, Naveed Qamar said although the government had ordered discontinuation of free units to the Wapda employees, the utility’s union refused to abide by the directive.
“If such an action was taken, the entire country would have to face a blackout,” he warned.
He said the CEOs of different power suppliers including the WAPDA chairman enjoy facility of 2000 free units while Grade-21 and 22 officers receive 1100 free power units each.
He said further that officers of Grade-19, 18 and 17 get 800, 600 and 450 free electricity units respectively.
He said electricity theft was being made a punishable crime under which severe punishments had been proposed.
Nation-wide blackout if free units stopped: Naveed
