KARACHI, July 9: The National Assembly's standing committee on water and power, which met here on Friday, took several decisions and constituted a task force to identify weak areas of KESC , find solutions to various problems and prepare uniform tariff for all power supply companies in the country.

Chairman of the committee Saleem Jan Mazari (MNA), who presided over the meeting, announced that the task force comprised city nazim, secretary local government, an MNA (Dr Farooq Sattar) and a KESC representative.

The decisions of the committee would be applicable throughout the country, said Mr Mazari. Mr Mazari said that instead of sitting in Islamabad, the NA standing committee felt it necessary to go to the power consumers in the country and apprise itself of the ground realities.

He said that committee members would visit various areas of the city at random tomorrow (Saturday) so that they could see the KESC installations/network and seek opinion of all stakeholders, especially the common consumers. This practice would be extended to the jurisdiction of other power companies as well.

"We have started with KESC as it has highest number of consumers and so are the problems," he said. Mr Mazari announced that every power company would appoint an MNA from the respective area on its board to ensure public representation on the decisions affecting the people.

He said the committee had taken serious note of the situation where KESC was charging commercial tariff form public utilities like Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) which ultimately shifted their burden to consumers. "This is not fair," he remarked.

The committee expressed concern over the 38 per cent line losses and underlined the need for corrective measures on war-footing. The government has already given more than Rs5 billion to KESC as subsidy and this kind of support was not the solution, Mazari said.

The committee also took serious note of wrong/exaggerated electricity bills. Mr Mazari announced that from July 10, a responsible official of KESC would be deputed at '15 Madadgar', the public complaint centre initiated by the police, on eight-hourly basis so that the people could get their KESC-related problems resolved in a more efficient way.

The committee, however, recommended strict action against illegal connections under the National Security Act and asked the KESC MD to phase out 10 feeders where there were higher line losses.

The committee felt that KESC official were involved in all this power theft and recommended that its area officials should be nominated in the FIR against the power theft suspect.

He directed the task force, already constituted by the Sindh government, to settle disputes between KESC and various departments/utilities of the provincial government and finalize the bills within a month.

After the settlement, the bills would start from zero level, he told the MD. MNA Dr Farooq Sattar recommended that KESC tariff be cut down and the consumers be given maximum relief.

He said domestic consumers were receiving bills beyond their affordability. Before deciding about the tariff, the socio-economic conditions of majority of people should also be kept in mind.

City Nazim Naimatullah Khan observed that KESC people had been shifting the burden of financial and technical losses, occurring due to their inefficiency and corruption, to the consumers.

He protested over the assertion by KESC high-ups that "a large number of population in the city is involved in power theft which calls for high tariffs and different treatment by KESC."

Expressing his resentment, he told KESC authorities: "Stop calling Karachiites thieves. Power pilferage is everywhere in the county." Chief Secretary called for fair treatment with Karachiites and said that industries here were discouraged due to poor service of KESC coupled with its non-professional attitude.

Vice President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry M. A. Jabbar called for earliest possible privatization of KESC to make this utility customer-oriented. -APP