PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has done well by advising provinces to desist from politics on the relief provided by the Punjab Government for power consumers for two months, advising them to follow the suit and take similar measures for welfare of the people. Addressing a meeting of the Federal Cabinet on Tuesday, he rejected allegations of any discrimination with the people of other provinces and clarified that the Punjab Government spared resources for the purpose from its own budget and there was no contribution of the Federal Government to it.
The advice and remarks of the Prime Minister came in the backdrop of sarcastic statements emanating from the leadership of other provinces vis-à-vis the relief that the PML(N) Government in Punjab has offered for those consuming electricity between 201 to 500 units. There is no denying the fact that the relief is for a limited period of two months but going by the fact that people receive exorbitant bills during summer months, they would benefit a lot by reduction of the rate by Rs. 14 a unit for July and August bills. This would help mitigate financial woes of the people, albeit on an adhoc basis but it would be wrong to criticize it and deny similar benefit to consumers in other provinces, who are also hard pressed. In fact, Punjab deserves credit for sparing resources from its own budget to provide relief to the people on an issue that pertains to the federal government.
There is absolutely no justification to criticize the move of the Punjab Government and finding refuge behind lame excuses to avoid allocation of similar resources to provide relief to consumers by other provinces. However, the mindset behind propaganda against the initiative of the Punjab Government is the same that opposed the then ‘sasti roti’ (subsidized bread) scheme of Punjab, which benefitted millions on a daily basis. It was the same mindset that opposed motorways and termed metro bus as ‘jangla bus’, projects that are contributing immensely to socio-economic development of the country and have become a symbol of decent travelling facilities for the general public.
The Prime Minister has justifiably pointed out that trillions of rupees are transferred to the provinces under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and that the provinces should spare some parts of funds received under the NFC to facilitate masses. As for sustainable relief, people would surely welcome the announcement of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah that his leadership has instructed him to provide permanent relief in the electricity bills to the people of Sindh. The province has already initiated moves in this regard including provision of assistance for installation of solar systems, especially in areas that are off-the-national grid. In another positive development, Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Leghari has acknowledged that the electricity tariff in Pakistan was highest in the region, adding that the government was working on providing relief to the masses, who could expect “positive news in a month or two”.
In fact, the issue of sustainable relief in electricity tariff cannot be brushed aside through temporary relief and the Government will have to come out with a realistic solution within weeks. The Minister has also talked about plans of the Government to set up new power plants to eliminate load-shedding. In the absence of details, nothing can be said with certainty but the country hardly needs an addition in the generation capacity as it already has a surplus, which has become a headache due to enormous liabilities in terms of capacity payments to IPPs. We have also been hearing about plans of the Government to promote use of energy efficient appliances but these have not moved beyond rhetoric despite the fact that these could help households lower the electricity bill.
