Lasbela Chamber chief opposes further electricity surcharge

The president of the Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ismail Sattar, has expressed strong opposition to the government's plan to pass the entire circular debt burden on to consumers. He was referring to a report revealing that before general election 2018 the government is considering imposing a special surcharge on electricity bills and passing on to the consumers the impact of interest of banks to generate additional funds for paying off a chronic circular debt that is contributing to load shedding, which has swelled to Rs 500 billion, as a report said.
Ismail Sattar termed the government's decision cruel because it is intended to pass the circular debt burden on to consumers, calling it as sheer injustice to the people, and vowed that the FPCCI will strongly oppose it in every forum. Ismail Sattar said that the LCCI will not let the government deceive and oppress the people of Pakistan and hurt the economy of the country with such decisions because it will push Pakistan into further poverty.
He announced his decision to join hands with the FPCCI which is holding biggest gathering of the country's businessmen on Thursday in Lahore where prominent business leaders from across the country will gather on the occasion of Eid-Millan Party. "We will record our protest on July 6 in Lahore against this unjust plan of the government and will decide further course of action to hold rallies and demos nationwide against this injustice," he added.
He said that the government's plan to amend the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority Act to add miscellaneous charges directly to consumers without approval by Nepra is improper. "Government is destroying its own institutions," he added According to reports, the government has decided to acquire yet another loan of Rs 41 billion from commercial banks to partially retire the circular debt. Electricity consumers will pay the principal as well as the interest on the Rs 41-billion borrowing in monthly bills.
"The present regime is out to extort money from the poor consumers as well as borrowing huge money from internal and external sources but no improvement is seen in power sector despite tall claims," he added.