Spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, has rejected the recent increase in power tariff, saying the issue of increasing power rates was not discussed in the meeting of Council of Common Interests and the need for increase in power tariff did not arise at the moment.
Addressing reporters in Peshawar and Islamabad on Thursday, Shaukat Yousafzai said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was generating 18 billion units of electricity annually at a cost of 90 paisa per unit, of which the province utilised only eight billion units.
He expressed concern that after generating 18 billion units of electricity at 90 paisa per unit, the centre resold the same electricity to province at Rs 14 per unit, which was great injustice.
Yousafzai said the centre needed to invest in KP’s hydel sector by benefiting from the power generating capacity of the province, adding that it should pay heed to generating power, not increasing tariff.
He said on the one hand load shedding had made life of the people miserable, while on the other, the bomb of power tariff hike was being dropped on them.
The spokesman demanded the federal government withdraw the recent increase in power tariff and avoid putting the people of KP on further trial.
He said only one percent fund was being paid to the province under the NFC Award and the province was badly affected by terrorism and its infrastructure had been totally damaged.
Yousafzai said terrorism was increasing by the day and the federal government should not only continue the one percent fund but also increase it further.
He said in the past, the federal government had allocated Rs 93 billion for 83 projects under the PSDP, while this year, only Rs 4 billion were reserved for the same projects.
He demanded the Centre allocate full amount for the 93 development projects. He praised the decision of withdrawing at source deduction by accepting KP’s demand and termed it an encouraging step by the Centre.
