Provinces, AJK Owe Rs.331 Bln Electricity Dues: Abid Sher

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2016 ) : State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali on Friday apprised the Senate the provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir government owed Rs.331 billion to Federal government on account of electricity dues.

Replying to a Calling Attention notice raised by Mian Muhammad Ateeq about emergence of new circular debt of Rs.250 to 300 billion, the minister said an amount of Rs. 350-400 billion was collected from domestic consumers.

Giving the breakup, the minister said, Punjab owed Rs.3.80 billion, Sindh Rs.71.19 billion, KPK Rs 20 billion, Balochistan Rs 4 billion,, AJK 62 billion and agri tubewells in Balochistan Rs.106.

He said some improvement has been made in recoveries but still a lot more needs to be done to get the dues from provinces.

He said no power station was closed due to non-payments and regular payment was being made to power generating companies.

The minister said that payments to Pakistan State Oil were also being made on regular basis. However, he said the government was facing problem in recoveries from the provinces. Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah was also approached for clearing dues against Sindh, he said.

The minister said the government has introduced smart metering system to avoid over billing. He said that over the last three and half years, line losses have also witnessed decline. APP/raz-slm/ff