LARKANA, Jan 24: The traders’ community, reacting over the inflated electricity bills being sent to rice millers, flour mills, and ice factories by Wapda, have appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to take notice of such gross irregularities.

Addressing a joint press conference on Thursday, Gada Hussain Mahiser, President, Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association, Anwer Shaikh, President, Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other officials lashed out at the unannounced loadshedding, tripping of lines, low voltage, wrong billing, and defective meters saying the business community could not afford to meet the three-fold increase in the power tariff.

They said that Wapda’s inflated electricity bills coupled with levying multiple taxes in the shape of fuel charges, kilowatt charges, surcharge, additional surcharge, income tax, and general sales tax had sent a wave of worry amongst domestic and commercial users in the country.

They said that due to the increase in electricity charges at least 125 rice mills out of the 750 in Sindh and Balochistan had switched over to diesel generators to keep the wheel moving on.

They said that it had not only brought down Wapda revenues but had also drastically affected quality production and export.

They pointed towards the highhandedness of Wapda which had sent power bills with huge arrears. The fact was that none of the factories had arrears on their account but the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company was pressurizing consumers to clear their “dues” or face penalties.

They demanded that such inflated bills be withdrawn.

They appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to come to their rescue and direct Wapda to correct the faulty bills so as to provide security to the country’s agriculture, industry, and trade.

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