Move against loadshedding: industrial bodies decide to stop payment to KESC

The chairmen of all the five industrial associations of the city have decided to stop payment of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) bills if it continued loadshedding in industrial areas from this month.
A meeting of the chairmen of all five industrial associations of the city was held on Monday at SAI office, chaired by its chairman Wahab Lakhani, where it was unanimously decided to hold back KESC bills if it fails to discontinue loadshedding in industrial areas by first of Ramazan.
It has also been decided that no member industry of the industrial associations will pay KESC dues in any case if KESC continues loadshedding or carries out load shedding at any time in future in industrial areas. They also demanded that KESC should give assurance in writing that it will not carry out loadshedding in future and the assurance should be endorsed by the Governor of Sindh.
The chairmen decided to hold a joint press conference at KPC on Tuesday. A, former chairman of SAI, Nisar Shakhani, said that KESC is responsible to supply uninterrupted electricity in industrial, commercial and residential areas and pay the bills of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC). KESC consumers have nothing to do with its inability to pay outstanding dues of SSGC.
He lashed out at KESC management and said that it is using industries as tool to pressurise the government to provide gas on deferred payment and increase KESC subsidy. Younis Bashir said that due to long hours scheduled and unscheduled load shedding make carrying out production activities impossible. He said that besides load shedding industrialists are facing a number of problems like acute water shortage, worsening law and order condition.
Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBAATI) Chairman Mohammad Irfan said that if KESC has no funds to discharge its liabilities it has nothing to do with its customers. He said that industries are the only sector which regularly pays its bills on time and around 95 percent industries paying bills without delay. He said it is KESC which has pushed its trusted and regular paying costumers to stop payment of bills by carrying out long hours load shedding in industrial areas and pushed them to wall.
A participant in the meeting said that when the government has totally failed to provide electricity, water and improve law and order in present industrial estates, what is the guarantee that it would succeed to provide these basic amenities to textile city and other upcoming industrial estates.