A delegation of the Zameendar Action Committee (ZAC) led by Chairman Malik Naseer Ahmad Shahwani and Secretary Malik Abdul Rehman called on Balochistan Chief Minister (CM) Mir Sarfraz Bugti here on Friday to discuss the issues of solarisation of agricultural tube wells of the province.
Talking to the delegation, Balochistan CM Mir Sarfraz Bugti said that the purpose of solarisation of agricultural tube wells was to relieve the landowners from heavy electricity bills and electrical problems.
He said that after the conversion of tube wells to solar energy, the Quetta, Electric Supply Company (QESCO) will have to completely disconnect from the electricity system. There is federal financial support for solarisation, he said adding that however, there were federal government reservations on solarisation that need to be addressed.
He said that the federal government was concerned that even after solarisation, landowners would continue to get electricity from the regular electricity system which would not achieve the objectives of transition to solar energy and the burden on national grades would be continued. To overcome these concerns of the Federation, the Zameedar Action Committee has to guarantee that after solarisation, they will not resort to the regular electricity system for electricity, legislation will be made if necessary, the CM said.
Balochistan CM said that after the solarisation process was completed, strict action would be taken if electricity was stolen from the regular electricity system for agricultural tube wells saying that if any QESCO personnel was found to be aiding and abetting the electricity theft, he would not be pardoned. Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said that he wanted to solve the problems of the landlords of the province and give relief saying that in this regard, the landlords also have to cooperate with the government.
