ISLAMABAD: Senators from the treasury and opposition benches accused on Thursday the Karachi Electric (KE) of violating the agreement it had signed with the government at the time of privatisation of the Karachi Electric Supply Company and called for carrying out its “performance audit”.

The harshest remarks came from none other than Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani who said the KE was acting like “a state within the state” as its officials had refused to appear before parliamentary committees.

The upper house unanimously passed a resolution on the eve of the country’s Independence Day, “reiterating its commitment to uphold the vision of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who had envisioned Pakistan as a democratic, moderate and progressive state, governed by the rule of law and guaranteeing equal rights to all its citizens”.

Through the resolution tabled by the Leader of House Raja Zafarul Haq, the members resolved that the Senate “shall continue to protect the rights of the federating units.”

Speaking on points of order, PML-N’s Chaudhry Tanveer and PPP’s Sassui Palijo appealed to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to withdraw resignations of its legislators and return to parliament so that a message of unity could be sent to the nation on the country’s Independence Day.

Criticising the KE’s performance, several senators asked the government to take over the company because of its failure to improve power distribution system in Karachi.

The demand came during a discussion on the report of the Senate committee on water and power on “unprecedented loss of lives caused by the heatwave of June coupled with power cuts by KE in Karachi” and an adjournment motion on frequent power breakdowns in the city.

PPP’s parliamentary leader Saeed Ghani held the KE responsible for the death of 1,200 people because of heatwave and power breakdowns in the city and said the company was not utilising its full capacity to generate power.

“For God’s sake, take it (KE) over as it is busy only in minting money and has no concerns for masses,” he said.

Ms Palijo termed the KE “killer of 1,200 people” and said it had sacked experienced officials.

KE VERSION: When contacted, KE spokesman Osama Qureshi said that “performance audits” of companies was a routine matter and recently Nepra had conducted such an audit of the company. He claimed that the KE had been declared the second best utility in the country in the recent audit.

Mr Qureshi said it was true that during the peak summer season, the company faced some problems in a few areas for a couple of days, but it was unjustified to criticise its overall performance on the basis of one or two incidents.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2015

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