Adviser opposes KESC `s Request

KARACHI: Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister, Sharmila Farooqi has appealed to the Federal government to not consider KESC s request for tariff increase as the load-shedding stricken citizens of Karachi cannot pay higher prices for electricity due to the already inflated prices of daily use items. Talking to a trader s delegation at her office on Wednesday she said that prolonged power load-shedding by KESC has resulted in the closure of several factories and reducing trade activities which rendered a large number of people jobless. She contended that when KESC is responsible for the unemployment of people, then how can it expect people to afford to pay higher and inflated bills of the utility? Sharmila said most of the population is living under poverty level and is unable to pay higher tariffs. She pointed out that Karachi is the economic hub of Pakistan but prolonged load-shedding has badly affected trade activities here and has increased the woes of its citizens. She questioned why the private management of KESC cannot fulfill its promise of making investments to improve its power generation capacity so that people could get rid of power outages. She was of the view that KESC should be re-nationalised if its private administration fails to improve power production. Farooqi said unannounced and prolonged load-shedding during the month of Ramazan, particularly during Sehri, Iftari and Taravih timings is an unlawful act. This attitude of KESC is compelling law abiding citizens to resort to protests and agitation against the utility.