In the third incident within three days of power supply disconnections over payment default to buildings under the use of government officials, the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) on Wednesday cut off electricity supply to the Sindh Secretariat’s barrack 86 for non-payment of Rs 1.5 million bills, pushing the Information Ministry among others into the dark. Interestingly, Shazia Marri, the Sindh information minister, also holds the provincial electric power portfolio. Starting a mass power disconnection move against its defaulters, the KESC had recently severed electricity connections to the official residence of Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and a farmhouse owned by a prominent leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Haleem Adil Sheikh, over payment default. On Wednesday, however, it was the turn of Sindh Secretariat – the headquarters of political administration.
Well-placed sources in KESC told Pakistan Today that the power supply to the barrack was disconnected due to non-payment of bills amounting to Rs 1.5 million, despite several notices being issued to the consumer. “On November 17, the consumer had submitted Rs 20,000 out of the huge amount. [But] the supply will only be restored after clearance of all dues,” they said. Referring to disconnection of power supply to Palm Village resort over default of Rs 5.7 million and Ayaz Soomro’s residence on non-payment of two months’ bills, the sources claimed that the recent developments prove the KESC believes in indiscriminate action against defaulters.
‘INDUSTRIALISTS’ AGENDA’: Meanwhile, lambasting the Karachi Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president among other business leaders, the KESC stated that the recent demand by the industrialists for taking over the power utility’s control has exposed their real intentions behind criticising its performance.
In a statement issued by the KESC on Wednesday, it was said that ‘a group of selfish industrialists’ has been misusing the respectable platform of KCCI and misguiding the entire industrial sector for ‘their personal ambitions of encroaching upon the energy sector under the cover of false electricity-related complaints’. “In their one-sided and untrue zeal to champion the cause of industrial community, they conveniently forgot the fact that the KESC had exempted all major industrial zones of Karachi from load shedding for more than two years until now, but only under very pressing gas shortage,” the KESC stated. “[The industrialists] had actually confessed to their deception and hunger for which they had been harming the interests of the whole sector.” The power company also reiterated its pledge to keep the industrial wheel moving and to serve the entire 20 million population of Karachi in spite of the minor hassles like the ‘disturbing attempts by a handful of industrialists’. Terming the demand for putting the names of the KESC’s top management on the exit control list as “ridiculous”, the KESC stated that it was not politics but simple power supply business where top management needs to be present for performing their public interest responsibilities.
