Will relief be given to the people as soon as possible?

The Senate Standing Committee on Energy has recommended that the recruitments by PESCO be canceled due to irregularities in recruitment to various posts.

The testing agency should be blacklisted and the department should take action against those involved and submit a report to the committee. Ministry of Energy officials briefed the committee that more than Rs. 17 billion power supply project is underway in Gwadar which will be completed in 18 months. The committee sought details of senior officers posted in Quetta, Peshawar and other areas. According to details, a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy was held on Monday at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Fida Muhammad Khan.

The meeting was attended by Senators Noman Wazir Khattak, Ahmed Khan, Dr. Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi, Maula Bakhsh Chandio, Mirza Mohammad Afridi, Maulvi Faiz Mohammad, Mushtaq Ahmed, Behrmand Khan Tangi and Hidayatullah and senior officials of the ministry.

Amjad Khan, a Member Provincial Assembly from Wahat, attended the committee exclusively and raised the issue of delay in implementation of power transmission projects in rural areas of Kohat. Paying special attention to the problem, instructions were given for early completion of the projects but they were not implemented. He said that even in 2021, people do not have electricity facility and people are longing for electricity facility. Officials agreed with the point of view of Member Provincial Assembly Amjad Khan. He apprised the committee of the whole situation and said that there were problems due to lack of funds but efforts were being made to resolve them.

The Secretary Power Division assured the committee that steps would be taken soon to provide adequate funds for the project and a plan of action would be worked out for the completion of these projects as soon as possible. The chairman of the standing committee said that the solution of public problems and timely completion of projects should be ensured so that relief could be provided to the people. Senator Maula Bakhsh Chandio said that various development projects have been started under Pak-China Economic Corridor but some areas are still deprived of these projects. He said that people of Gwadar were facing problems of load shedding. Senator Mirza Afridi stressed that Gwadar was being abused and instead of solving the problems, it was increasing day by day.

Secretary Power Division said that Balochistan government had given LOI and NEPRA had also given tariff. He said that a strategy has been adopted and a strategy has been formulated for each project which falls under a particular category. However, the Secretary said that at present Pakistan’s power generation capacity is more than required and new projects will further improve it. The committee was informed that although 50 MW solar and 300 MW coal projects are under consideration, the problem of the people of Makran and Gwadar will be solved only when the 300 MW project which will generate electricity from coal. Will solve and long-term coordination with the national grid will properly reduce the difficulties.

Chairman Committee Senator Fida Mohammad said that there was an urgent need to find a solution to this problem. He directed that all the agencies should take practical steps together and adopt an effective strategy for the supply of power to Gwadar. Secretary Power Division assured to take up the issue in the relevant forums and promised to expedite the solution. The committee said that keeping in view the importance of Gwadar and the plight of the people, it was now imperative for the ministry to take steps to resolve the issue as a special case.

Senator Hidayatullah briefed the committee about the power transmission projects in the former districts of FATA under SDGs and said that progress has been made on the projects. He thanked the committee and officials in this regard. Tesco officials assured the committee that the projects would be completed by March 2021. Immediate action should be taken against the responsible officials and transparent investigations should be carried out and they should be severely punished.

He said that if SDOs and ROs were also appointed by the agency, there would be objections on its transparency. He directed that no further progress should be made on the appointments of SDOs and ROs where the process of appointment of junior employees has been stalled and those responsible should be identified by conducting a transparent investigation of the entire process.

Senator Behrmand Tangi said in the meeting of the committee that there are problems in installing meters in Charsadda and surrounding areas, power outages and other issues on which PESCO officials are silent and have not taken any practical steps to address them.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Fida Mohammad Khan, along with Senator Tangi, gave instructions regarding the solution of these problems. He said that the people’s representatives strive to solve the problems of the people and all the institutions should cooperate in this regard and take immediate steps to solve the problems facing the people. On the issue of Khuzdar feeder, Senator Maulvi Faiz Mohammad, Chairman Committee called for early completion of feeder projects.