PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has submitted a resolution in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly againstthe drasticincrease in electricitybills and demanded of the federal government to reduce the power tariff to avoid closure of industrial units in the province.

Party’s parliamentary leader in KP Assembly Sardar Hussain Babak said in a statement here on Wednesday that the increase in power price had led to closure of industrial units, including crushing plants, affecting thousands of poor families.

He said that compared to other provinces the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was generating surplus hydel power on low cost, but even then the province was not given its constitutional rights. He said the people were unable to buy the costly electricity in the prevailing situation and as a result the business activities were badly affected, particularly during the past over three years.

Mr Babak said that for a strong federation it was necessary to ensure provision of constitutional rights to the provinces. He said the unprecedented increase in power bills, illogical loadshedding and terrorist acts were main hurdles to foreign investment in the province.

He urged the federal government to ensure power supply on reasonable price to remove unrest among the people.

Meanwhile, Awami National Party senior vice-president MNA Ameer Haider Hoti has refused to go with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia for Umrah ‘on government expenses’.

According to a statement issued here on Wednesday by the ANP spokesperson, Mr Hoti said that performing Umrah at the official level was not his party’s tradition. He thanked the prime minister for inviting him to perform Umrah.

He said the prime minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia was important, but fulfilment of religious duty was an individual process.

Mr Hoti hoped the new government would take the entire political leadership into confidence on important issues. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia from April 28 to 30.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022