Pakistani government has decided to further burden the public, as electricity bills will now include a Radio fee along with TV fee. It was decided in the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Salim Mandviwala.
Finance Ministry officials in their briefing said that electricity bills will include a radio fee along with a TV fee, Rs 50 TV and radio fee will be charged in electricity bills.
According to the Ministry of Finance, 35 rupees PTV and 15 rupees radio fee will be charged in the electricity bill, the Ministry of Information has prepared a summary in this regard. According to Finance Ministry officials, the money received from users will be spent on the salaries of radio employees.
It has been reported that the federal government is planning to address the financial crisis faced by Radio Pakistan by imposing additional charges on power consumers. According to sources within the finance ministry, the Ministry of Information has drafted a proposal to levy an extra Rs15 on consumers’ electricity bills.
Under this proposal, the state TV fee on electricity bills will be increased from Rs35 to Rs50, and out of this amount, Rs15 will be allocated to Pakistan Radio to support its financial needs. The decision is said to be based on recommendations from the Senate Standing Committee.
Earlier, in February of this year, the Senate committee had proposed a separate “radio fee” of Rs500 for all vehicles (except motorcycles) during their registration. The purpose was to generate additional revenue of Rs15 billion per year to aid the financially struggling Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), commonly known as Radio Pakistan.
The recommendation emerged from a sub-committee meeting under the leadership of Irfan Siddiqui from the ruling PML-N. The discussion focused on addressing the challenges faced by PBC’s current and retired employees, who have been enduring financial difficulties for over a decade.
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