Siraj to move SC against past govts’ deals with IPPs

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has said agreements made by past governments with independent power producers (IPPs) are responsible for the inflated electricity bills. He announced that his party would be approaching the Supreme Court against the deals.

Last month, the power regulator raised the national average tariff by around Rs5 per unit, pushing the base unit power tariff from Rs24.82 to Rs29.78. On Aug 22, the government once again sought to raise the power rate by Rs3.55 per unit.

This sparked protest demonstrations led by traders and the public in various cities. Fuelled by their frustration with inflated power bills, people have taken to the streets in recent days against unbearable price hikes and inflated bills.

Yesterday, large parts of the country saw a shutter-down strike and protest rallies on the call of various traders’ bodies, as well as the JI, to protest taxing hikes in electricity bills and petroleum prices. Provincial capitals in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan remained completely shut, whereas Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad saw a partial shutdown.

Earlier today, the JI held a meeting to decide its future course of action on the matter.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore after the meeting, Haq thanked the people and trader community for participating in Saturday’s strike, adding that it had sent a message to the government that “we don’t accept those agreements which past governments made with IPPs”. Those who signed these deals had “betrayed the nation and committed injustice”, he added.