LAHORE: The leadership of Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) Punjab on Wednesday demanded immediate relief for citizens struggling under heavy utility bills.
TTAP Punjab Chief Organiser Ammar Ali Jan and Information Secretary Shayan Bashir called for substantial cuts to the petroleum levy and indirect fuel taxes, alongside a transparent, district-by-district public audit of Punjab’s wheat procurement and stock records. They stated that July’s utility and fuel bills clearly illustrate whose interests the government truly serves.
The TTAP leaders highlighted a one-sided pattern in the government’s fuel pricing strategy, saying when global oil prices dropped in late June, the government froze pump prices and absorbed the difference by raising the petroleum levy.
“However, when global prices rose, the burden was immediately passed to the public, pushing petrol prices up by Rs 13.18 to Rs 310.71 per litre and diesel by Rs 13.80 to Rs 323.30 per litre,” they added.
They also slammed the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) for adding 34 paisa per unit to July’s electricity bills for power consumed two months prior in May, charging a collective Rs 4.2 billion to already struggling households.
They also noted discrepancies in the wheat market, saying while farmers were forced to sell their wheat at approximately Rs 2,200 per maund last year, flour mills are currently purchasing it at Rs 4,600 per maund, leaving a massive price gap that families are paying for at the bakery.
“Despite the Punjab government claiming a historic harvest of 21.9 million tonnes, its own food department is actively seeking permission to import wheat. Either the production figures are artificially inflated, or the grain has been hoarded, diverted, or misreported,” they claimed, adding that the massive profit spread did not vanish but was pocketed by middlemen and exploiters.
Hence, the TTAP leaders demanded a full, district-by-district independent audit of Punjab’s wheat stocks to be published immediately, alongside symmetric, tangible relief in both fuel and electricity tariffs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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