Quetta: Abid Sher Ali, Federal Minister for Water and Power has indicated the withdrawal of Power subsidy to agriculture user in Baluchistan on Tuesday. He said at a press conference in Quetta, power is not alms to be distributed for free. Abid Sher Ali told reporters that agriculture, domestic users and government of Baluchistan are owed to 106 billion rupees.
Federal Minister for Water and Power claimed that Rs 84 billion is owed to agricultural users and said that both the federal and provincial governments and WAPDA have paid billions of rupees for subsidize to agricultural users. State Minister said the state government has set the monthly payment of Rs 6,000 for each tube wells. He also said that agricultural and domestic consumers are always fail to pay bill in Baluchistan so WAPDA to cut off their connections.
Abid Sher Ali said that Baluchistan is facing serious energy crisis and in various parts of the province farmers are cutting down their trees due to the prolonged power outages. In this regard, the minister said that political pressure will not be tolerated. Abdi Sher Ali said that 10,000 of the 26,000 tube wells are illegal.
[junkie-alert style=”white”] Abid Sher Ali, Federal Minister for Water and Power assured that action would be taken against corrupt elements within the WAPDA.[/junkie-alert] He stated those WAPDA officers and assets’s details with the support of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will be posted on the Web site. He said Khuzdar, Dadu Dera Ghazi – Loralai transmission lines will be completed soon and to overcome the growing need of Baluchistan 750 MW additional power will be provided.