HYDERABAD: A multi-party conference (MPC) convened by the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has demanded a Rs500 billion uplift package for Hyderabad from the federal government and urged it to direct the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) to end excesses against the consumers.

The MPC was conveyed to highlight issues of Hyderabad, anti-consumer attitude of Hesco and local bodies’ elections. It was held at JI’s Markaz Tableegh-i-Islam on the Shah Makki road on Wednesday evening.

Addressing the conference, district JI emir Hafiz Tahir Majeed said that unannounced load-shedding continued for 10 to 12 hours in the name of power theft. There should be an end to this tyranny, he urged.

Power theft was not possible without active connivance of Hesco staff, he said and asserted that detection and direct connections should be eliminated and action should be taken against the Hesco officials involved in power pilferage. He called for addressing consumers’ complaints forthwith.

Hyderabad Pakistan Peoples Party district chapter president Saghir Qureshi said power remained suspended in different areas for several hours. He said the problems relating to Hesco had increased in the city, but no one paid heed. The consumers would have to make a unified stand against Hesco, he said, adding that the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had also destroyed the city.

Pak Sarzameen Party leader Nawab Rashid Ali Khan and Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan-Noorani leader Nazim Arain said that a proper strategy was needed for resolving the city’s problems.

They said the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had been destroyed by the rulers while Hesco had outdone police in terms of excesses meted out against the common man. They said detection bills were being issued daily and no one was taking notice of it. Only a strong public voice could provide some relief to consumers, they said, observing that parliamentarians remained silent spectators.

Pakistan Sunni Tehrik leader Imran Suharwardi, Abid Qadri and others said they were ready to go to jails to make Hesco behave. A grand alliance sort of group should be created against Hesco, he added. Shia Ulema Council leader Syed Jumman Shah said that Hesco had made lives of people miserable. He said consumers had to pay extortion to Hesco staff in the name of rectification of faults in transformers.

Jamiat Ulema Islam(JUI)-Fazl leader Azam Jehangiri and JUI-Samiul Haq representative Hafiz Arman Chohan said that stories of illegal connections were abound. They said Wapda had become a white elephant. Action should be taken against corrupt officers of Hesco, they said, urged that the federal and provincial governments should take over Hesco or privatise it.

Business leaders Gulshan Illahi and Saleem Vohra said that Hesco had not been able to redress grievances of consumers. Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken Hesco on the verge of destruction, they alleged.

They said the money received through corruption reached higher officers and Hesco did not differentiate between power thieves and good paymasters. They said low-power transformers were installed in densely-populated areas and when complaints were launched, bribe was demanded.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2020