ISLAMABAD, Jan 8: The Standing Committee of Senate on Water and Power has taken serious notice of load-shedding in various parts of the country and observed that this practice, particularly during peak hours, has disturbed routine life of the people.

The committee, which met in the Parliament House here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri, was of the view that the billing system of Wapda was outdated and the residents were receiving Inflated electricity bills.

The situation in Karachi was very grave and required urgent government steps, it observed.

Members of the Committee were of the view that Karachi, being an industrial hub and the biggest city of the country, needed efficient and un-interrupted supply of electricity, and directed authorities concerned to ensure that the system was improved and transmission losses were brought down.

The meeting was informed that shortage of power generation, overloading of gird transformers and breakdowns in the outdated distribution system were some of the main causes of load-shedding in Karachi and that an immediate action was required to avoid load shedding in 2005-2006.

The committee was told that Hubco-KESC direct link project was being launched at a cost of Rs3 billion which was likely to be completed in the middle of 2006.

It was further informed that KESC was taking allout steps to recover outstanding dues from the people and that an incentive-oriented strategy had been introduced with a view to motivating the people to pay their outstanding dues.

In reply to a question from a member, the meeting was informed that the KESC had embarked on a plan to eliminate corruption from the organization and that 676 employees/officials had been penalized for various crimes.

Members of the committee did not agree with the contention of the KESC that it was giving connections to the people within a fortnight. It, however, directed the KESC to ensure that people's grievances were redressed on priority basis.

Members were happy to learn that the KESC had planned to install six new 240MW transformers, donated by the UAE government, in few months.

The meeting was attended by Senators Justice (retd) Abdul Razzaq Tahim, Muhammad Amjad Abbas, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Dr Azizullah Satakzai, Maulana Rahat Hussain, Sahibzada Khalid Jan, Raza Muhammad Raza and Bibi Yasmeen Shah.

Minister of State for Water and Power Amir Muqam and senior officers of the Ministry of Water and Power and KESC were also present.-APP