In the ongoing spate of allegations made by Senator Raza Rabbani about Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Rabbani has demanded that the government should take over the entity in order to improve its performance. Rabbani has gone so far as to term KESC bosses as ‘economic terrorists’.
It is highly surprising that even though various state-owned institutions like PIA, Pakistan Railways, Wapda and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) are going bankrupt, only KESC is being targeted by Mr Rabbani.
It is true that KESC’s privatisation has been widely criticised and the company’s performance has not been up to standards but the improvement in the performance of KESC is evident nowadays to the Karachiites. There is only announced loadshedding and the time period has also been reduced.
Institutes like Pakistan Railways are in great decline and are accused of rampant corruption. It is highly pertinent that the Senator pays attention to these areas as well instead of just focusing on KESC. He opposed KESC’s privatisation mainly because it was done during Musharraf’s time period.
The statement issued by KESC in reply to Rabbani’s accusations clearly states that till December last year, the federal and provincial governments owed KESC a colossal amount of over Rs 56 billion under various heads, a large percentage of which was due to unpaid power bills.
Non-payment of such huge outstanding amounts and short supply of natural gas on the part of government has been playing havoc to the power generation and supply system for Karachi consumers. It would be more fruitful if the Senator takes actions to remedy this situation made by his government instead of just criticising KESC.
MASOOMA IMRAN
Karachi
Clear thinking.
Comments are closed.