KARACHI: Faced with citizens’ protests over collection of a municipal tax through power bills, the K-Electric said on Monday that the utilisation of the Municipal Utility Charges and Taxes (MUCT) was beyond its scope.
As people came to know about a new bill being collected through electricity bills, they resorted to a different form of protest by throwing garbage outside the offices of the KE in many parts of the city.
The protesting citizens, whose videos went viral on social media, claimed that if KE was getting the money then collection of garbage from their localities should have been its responsibility.
However, a KE spokesperson said: “In the last few days, the unusual way of protest by citizens reveals how gigantic the problem of garbage is for the residents of Karachi,” and added: “The authority of imposing or removal of taxes lies with the federal and provincial governments. K-Electric is legally bound to follow the government’s instructions on implementation of taxes. Any further information about utilisation of the municipal taxes is beyond KE’s scope. The KMC can however be contacted in this regard.”
Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022
