March 12, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 8, 1424

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Rawalpindi, March 11: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has sought the intervention of the defence ministry to resolve its dispute with the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) over the payment of dues, official sources said.

In a letter to the ministry, the RCB oficials contended that numerous meetings had taken place at lower level but the matter could not be resolved, therefore, it should be taken up at higher level.

Electricity supply of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and the newly-established Chaklala Cantonment Board, which was disconnected about three weeks before due to non-payment of dues, has not been restored so far. Both the cantonments have been using generators since then.

“It is too difficult for the civic bodies to bear the heavy cost of generators,” the RCB chief executive officer, Kh Iftikhar Mir, said. He said the office work was also being affected.

On the other hand, the Iesco said it won’t restore the electricity unless the dues are paid whereas the RCB had made counterclaims about the amount of dues.

Iesco claims that Rs130 million is outstanding against the cantonments whereas the latter admit only Rs90 million.

The cantonment authorities say the Iesco bills are much inflated and that they have been overbilled.

They have also made counterclaims of Rs440 million on account of property tax for the Iesco offices located in the RCB limits. The power company has denied this claim on the plea that the company is a government department and is not supposed to pay property tax and line rent.

The RCB chief executive officer said the board staff was facing severe problems as a result of power disconnection. He said he had made several requests to the Iesco officials to rationalise their bills but in vain. He claimed that the RCB owed Rs440 million to the Iesco, which the latter had refused to pay.

To a question, he said the Iesco was not a government department but a corporate body, therefore, it should pay property tax, line rent and all other taxes.

The superintending engineer of Iesco, Habib Ali Bangash, said the RCB power supply won’t be restored unless the dues were cleared. “The power may be restored if the board pays 75 per cent amount of dues pending against it,” he added.

The board officials have not even contacted us in this connection, he said.

He said the RCB was only paying Rs5 million monthly which, according to him, was the current bill.