SWABI, Oct 22: Leaders of different political parties and consumers of Swabi district have opposed Nepra’s decision to allow 11 paisa raise in the power tariff and said the whole burden of the increase will be transferred to the lower middle class.
Swabi Qaumi Mahaz (SQM) President Dr Salim said repeated increase in the power tariff and prices of essential commodities had caused resentment among the people.
Castigating the Nepra’s decision, former provincial general secretary of Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) Najeem Khan advocate said the common man would be victimized once again and as the power rates increased, the traders would push the price of their products.
Pakistan Muslim League’s district general secretary Dildar Khan said the decision indicated that the government had failed to adopt policies for relief of consumers and the increase would create more hardships for them.
“The latest increase is unjustified and cruel, and it will add to the miseries of lower middle class,” he told Dawn.
The former district president of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Asad Qaiser criticised the regulatory policy under which the tariff would be reviewed on quarterly basis. “Wapda has already been in loss and the quarterly increase in rates is a new strategy to fleece the poor consumers,” he said.
Wapda cannot hide its financial irregulars and mismanagement and there is a need to keep its management on track rather than making the people pay for its failures, said district general secretary of Jamaat-i-Islami, Saeed Zada.
The peasants opined that the increase would also push upward the prices of pesticides and urea.
The consumers said the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities had already exhausted their purchasing power.
They appealed to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, federal water and power minister and Wapda chairman to reconsider the sanctioned increase in the power tariff.
Our Mingora correspondent adds: The general secretary of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Swat, Fazal Rehman, on Monday expressed his deep concern over the recent increase in the power rates.
The PPP leader, in a press statement, said the people were already facing a number of problems due to the increasing unemployment and price hike.
He said all the tall claims of the government about the success of its foreign and economic policies had failed and miseries of the masses had multiplied.
Mr Rehman asked the government to lower the rates of electricity and make sure that all the daily use items were available on controlled rates in the markets.
Meanwhile, the president of Anjuman Gujran Malakand division, Dr Khalid Mehmood Khalid, also criticized the government’s decision of increasing rates of electricity and said the people were unable to afford the soaring prices of power.
He also demanded immediate action for creating new job opportunities in the division.