ISLAMABAD: The government of Punjab has announced that residents of Islamabad will also get subsidized electricity for two months like other parts of Pakistan’s most populated province, as directed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.
According to media reports, letters have been sent from Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan electricity distribution companies to their counterpart in Islamabad to facilitate the consumers.
Senior Minister of Punjab Maryam Aurangzeb stated that customers using between 201 and 500 units will benefit from a Rs14 per unit discount in August and September. The subsidy will be financed through the Punjab budget.
Aurangzeb further added that other provinces have the discretion to provide similar relief from their own budgets.
However, the governments of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have already declined to provide relief on electricity bills to the consumers.
A day earlier, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Finance Advisor Muzzammil Aslam said that their provincial administrations would not be able to offer instant relief on electricity tariffs.
In an interview with a private TV channel, Wahab said that offering two months of relief to the people of Sindh would cost Rs10 billion. Similarly, a two-month relief package in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa would cost Rs8 billion, while in Balochistan, it would cost to Rs1 billion.
Muzzammil Aslam, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Finance Advisor, said that both K-P and Sindh generate low-cost electricity, whereas Punjab produces more expensive electricity.
He said that even though the Punjab government had provided a two-month relief, electricity rates would rise again afterwards. Both advisors asked the federal government to find a permanent solution to the problems rather than offering temporary relief.
