June 26, 2015
News
Govt flayed over Karachi heat wave deaths, water scarcity
By Zeeshan Ghayur
ISLAMABAD: Opposition members in the Lower House of parliament on Thursday demanded empathy from the treasury for over one thousand deaths in Karachi due to a heat wave, load shedding and scarcity of water.
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai demanded the treasury provide a response on the recent killing of at least seven innocent internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Waziristan. Speaking on scarcity of water in Karachi, he held responsible all political parties for having failed to provide clean water. He suggested the federal government start hydropower projects on Swat River which, he claimed, has a power generation potential of 50,000MW, and Chitral River, which can generate 20,000MW.
“Water belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), therefore, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) should be handed over to KP.” Speaking on power dues defaulters, he claimed that most members of this House are industrialists who are bill defaulters. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch said the IDPs incident occurred at the time of Iftar as IDPs were awaiting entry through an army entry point, the entrants got aggravated on the slow procedure and resorted to throwing pebbles at the armed forces. The armed forces retaliated with firing in the air, which resulted in the deaths of seven IDPs while injured 18.
He said the armed forces have formed a committee to probe into the matter with collaboration from the civil law enforcement agencies. He said the higher ups in armed forces have expressed sorrow over the tragic incident. He said that at least 20,000 IDPs are living in the camp where they have been provided with an “ideal situation”. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazalur Rehman’s (JUI-F) MNA Muhammad Jamaluddin expressed anger over the incident and said that the violent protestors resorted to burning the office of WAPDA.
He demanded that the federal government release compensation for the affected IDPs. He suggested that Sharia be imposed for effective delivery of justice. He said those involved in electricity theft should be tried. “Load shedding is equivalent to a sin in Ramazan, especially in summer,” Jamaluddin added. MQM MNA Syed Waseem Hussain claimed that the incumbent regime planted the story in association with BBC to defame MQM. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Murad Saeed said the federal government should suspend supply of electricity to all defaulters, whether public or private.
“I ask the federal government the reason for providing amnesty schemes for those who are ‘huge bill’ defaulters while depriving many poor of the same facility,” Saeed added. He said KP generates cheap electricity more than the requirement of the province, yet it is subjected to power load shedding. He demanded the federal government replace the transmission lines in KP and complained that bribes are paid for replacement of transformers.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNA Dr Nikhat Shakeel Khan said “We should revisit the definition of terrorism and bring to trial K-electric for having deprived Karachi of electricity during summer’s holy month of Ramazan”. She demanded the federal government for taking over K-electric before the death toll reaches a hundred thousand. She said the federal government should revise its strategy for curbing the line losses and suspend electricity to all defaulters. She said the Ministry of Climate Change and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) should act before time runs out.
Awami Muslim League (AML) MNA Sheikh Rahsid Ahmed said the facts and figures are of no use if the ground reality is scoring lives of innocents. “The federal government had quoted fabricated figures to International Monetary Fund (IMF) for which the incumbent regime had to pay a penalty of $8 million”, Rashid added. He said the power projects being enacted at Kohala should stop and move to a different location as the region is the centre point to earth quakes. He claimed that Kalabagh Dam is not being constructed because of the opposition from Sindh.
Speaking on Nandipur he reminded the House that Dong Fong Company is blacklisted in Pakistan as till date all projects completed by this company have failed. Doubting the capacity of Solar Power Plant at Bahawalpur, he said, “I cannot see that the plant can generate more than 18-20MW rather than the proclaimed figure of 100MW”. Speaking on inflation he said that a grave and burial costs Rs 35,000 in Karachi while in Punjab the same costs Rs 75,000 citing that the poor is unable to afford. He demanded the salaries and wages should increase keeping in view the Islamic system. Speaking on transparency, he said the federal government should display the audit for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Bait-ul-Maal at a web site for public awareness. All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) MNA Iftikharuddin said Chitral on average receives 45V while 40MW is its requirement.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk