ISLAMABAD: Opposition members protested in the Senate on Wednesday against the federal government’s act of disconnecting power supply to various feeders in Hyderabad because of non-payment of bills, causing an acute shortage of water in the city.

But Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali refused to restore the supply unless the Sindh government paid dues of Rs56 billion.

This led to a token walkout from the house by all opposition members, including those from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The minister said that the Sindh government was a defaulter of Rs56bn, of which Rs27bn was outstanding against the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company alone. He accused the Hyderabad Development Authority of stealing electricity worth Rs180 million every month.

Mr Ali said his ministry had also disconnected power supply to different government departments in Punjab on the same grounds. Even supply to his own ministry, Parliament House and the Supreme Court was suspended.

“The Sindh government is even refusing to own 5,600 connections,” the minister said, adding that he had taken up the matter with Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on the directive of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but to no avail.

“Pay the dues and...we will resolve the matter,” he said amid noisy protest by PPP members from Sindh. He requested the Senate to ask the Sindh government to at least make payment of 25 per cent of the dues.

The issue was raised by the PPP’s Moula Bux Chandio through a point of order when he drew the attention of the house to non-supply of water to a major part of Hyderabad due to disconnection of power supply to various feeders and tube-wells.

He questioned the logic of punishing a large number of people for the wrongdoing of a few persons. “Cut electricity supply of those who do not pay bills. Why are you punishing [other] people,” he asked.

The PPP senator said he reserved the right to ask the Sindh chief minister to lead protest rallies in the province against the injustice like Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had done in Lahore during the previous PPP government.

Leader of Opposition in the Senate Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said the government could not deprive people of water which was their fundamental right. “You can’t punish people for any wrong act of a government,” he added.

Before leading the walkout, Mr Ahsan asked the minister to announce restoration of electricity to the tube-wells and threatened that PPP leaders from Punjab would go to Sindh to lodge protest over the “cruelty” being meted out to the province by the federal government.

PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in the House Raza Rabbani suggested that the issue be resolved through the Council of Common Interests. Former interior minister Rehman Malik asked the government to utilise the services of the Federal Investigation Agency and other such organisations to take action against power thieves. “If the two governments are unable to resolve the issue, don’t punish the people,” Mr Malik said.

Earlier, during the question hour, the Senate was informed that the government had seized smuggled goods worth Rs22.523bn over the past five years.

Responding to questions of the JUI-F’s Talha Mehmood, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the house through a written reply that 1,404 people had been arrested in smuggling cases during the period. Of them, 855 accused have been convicted by courts whereas 582 cases of smuggling are under trial.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2014