Maryam responds to Mustafa's remarks about power tariff relief in Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz responded to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Mustafa Kamal’s remarks about the power tariff relief in the province.

She told Mustafa that the provincial government paid for it.

“Dear Mustafa bhai, Punjab has not got this relief free but it paid for its people,” she said, adding that for this relief, Punjab has paid Rs45 billion from its budget.

She went on: “I will be happy if you talk to the Sindh government to get such a relief. Thank you!”

Mustafa Kamal passed remarks on the PML-Nawaz’s president’s announcement to provide relief in electricity prices for Punjab.

The PML-N supremo yesterday said the Punjab government prepared a relief package by cutting the power tariff by Rs14 per unit for people consuming up to 500 units of electricity. "The relief will be given in the bills of August and September," he maintained.

Kamal said it was an unwarranted announcement as instead of Nawaz, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should have provided relief for the entire country.

The former prime minister said that the provincial government had cut its development fund to provide relief in utility bills.

The MQM-P leader rejected the decision to cut the price in Punjab only. “Price for the utility should be cut down by Rs20 a unit nationwide,” he demanded addressing a press conference in Karachi. Kamal demanded uniform electricity price throughout the country, presenting a solution for bringing the electricity price down.

He claimed Pakistan possessed electricity beyond its requirement as it had the ability to generate more than 45,000 megawatts electricity. However, he said, the country’s transmission lines had the capacity of merely 22-25,000 megawatts.

“These IPPs have already made billions of rupees (in terms of charges for their services),” he said.

After that, the politician suggested, the government should sit with the foreign IPPs as well and talk to them about the prevailing situation.