June 28, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 12, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 27: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances on Wednesday took serious notice of the absence of Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi, Wapda Chairman Tariq Hameed and other senior officials of the ministry from the meeting and asked them to ensure their presence in the next meeting.

Talking to Dawn, MNA and a member of the committee Sher Akbar Khan said that the committee had decided to write letters to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain to inform them about the non-serious attitude of the water and power minister.

Mr Khan said the committee chairman, Khuda Bux Nizamani, had directed the minister and the Wapda chairman to ensure their presence in the next meeting expected to be held next week.

The meeting of the standing committee had been convened to discuss the non-compliance of assurances given by the water and power minister on the floor of the National Assembly first on May 10, 2005 and then on April 19, 2006 regarding up-gradation of a grid station in Bunair, NWFP.

Giving the background, Mr Khan said that he had drawn the attention of the house towards the low-voltage in frequent power breakdowns in Bunair and the minister had assured that he would upgrade the transformer installed in the district from the present 66KV to 132KV to meet the requirements of the area.

Later, he said, Wapda officials in a meeting of the committee on August 12, last year, said that they had made some temporary arrangements to resolve the power crisis in the area.

Mr Khan, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao group), said that there were some 400 marble factories in Bunair and Wapda received a huge revenue of upto Rs60 million from these factories.

The MNA said that he had even arranged a meeting of the factory owners and the water and power minister. Mr Khan regretted that despite all efforts, the people of Bunair were suffering from frequent power breakdowns and unannounced load- shedding for 10 to 12 hours a day.

He said recently the Wapda officials claimed that they had upgraded the said grid station on June 9. He, however, rejected the claim saying the people of Bunair were still living in darkness.

Mr Khan regretted that instead of attending the meeting, the minister sent chief executive of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco). He alleged that the Pesco chief had no powers at all to resolve the problem.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Syed Gulzar Sibtain Shah, Sardar Bahadur Ahmed Khan Sihar, Sardar Fateh Mohammad Hasni, Bushra Anwar Sipra, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Pir Syed Fazal Shah Jeelani, Malik Liaqat Dogar, Samia Raheel Qazi, Pervaiz Masih and Azhar Ahmed Khan Yusufzai.