HYDERABAD, July 12: The chairman, National Assembly standing committee on water and power, Saleem Jan Mazari, has appointed a task force to resolve a dispute between Hesco and the Sindh government over power arrears.

He asked the task force, headed by MNA Shah MNA and including two representatives of the Sindh government and two of Hesco, to submit its recommendations to the committee up to August 31.

Mr Mazari took the decision at a meeting with the MNAs, officials of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and representatives of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a hotel here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that basic purpose of his committee was to resolve the problems of people relating to Wapda and water. He said that the committee was also required to recommend measures to improve the working of the departments concerned.

In the question answer session, MNAs Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and Syed Zafar Ali Shah complained about frequent power loadshedding. The chief executive of Hesco, Syed Adeebul Hassan Rizvi, replied that all out efforts were being made to resolve the problem.

After MNA Syed Khurshid Shah inquired about the policy on repair and replacement of transformers, Mr Mazari ordered that faulty transformers be replaced within 12 hours.

A committee member from Punjab, MNA Mian Mumtaz Ahmed, inquired about the steps being taken to reduce power theft and control line losses. The member, power, Wapda, Anwar Khalid, told the meeting that Hesco was running in deficit to the tune of Rs9.6 billion.

The committee head said that a Hesco official should be present in the office of a taluka nazim from 9am to 11am to redress the grievances of the consumers. Later, Mr Mazari told journalists, that there were 267,000 illegal connections within the jurisdiction of Hesco where line losses were estimated at 35 per cent.