Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) disconnected power supply to a number of departments for their failure to clear the bills. Pakistan Railway's Multan cantt, city station, colonies and other installation, prisons, civil defence, district courts, irrigation, livestock, forests, food, revenue, TMAs, police, local bodies and eleven other departments remained in dark for almost a day.
However, MEPCO could not disconnect electricity of Prime Minister's residence in Multan, which is also among the chronic defaulters. Chief Executive of MEPCO Guftar Ahmed said that this step has been taken as per decision of federal cabinet, which ordered to disconnect the power supply of all defaulting departments. People of Multan could not get drinking water during the last 24 hours because MEPCO cut off 159 connection of Wasa, which is a defaulter of Rs 300 million. Railway employees staged a demonstration at railway station under the leadership of Malik Bashir Ahmed of Labour Union as a protest against the disconnection of power supply to their quarters.
He said that their families spent hot day without electricity and mosquitoes did not let them sleep during the night. School-going children also suffered and could not prepare themselves for tests. Ahmed said that railway employees were paying their bill regularly on monthly basis to railway authorities. MEPCO authorities said that railway is defaulter of Rs 16.4 million.
All the government departments are defaulters of Rs 1500 million. MEPCO has created a difficult situation for the general public as well as government employees because of suspension of water supply and drainage system and irrigation water. Even patients in railway hospital suffered a lot due to power cuts. Government officers said that MEPCO was sending them inflated bill to meet its losses due to power theft. Since there is no system of auditing/checking the bills of government offices and colonies, MEPCO officials were exploiting the situation, they added.
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