Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) has urged the federal government to provide electricity to farmers of Punjab on suitable flat rates as it is providing power to growers of Balochistan. Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club (LPC) on Saturday.
KBP Chief Sardar Zafar Hussein said that growers are very unfortunate who are forced to pay the bill of that electricity, which they are not even using besides bearing the brunt of load-shedding. He alleged that according to report of Wapda, it was recovering Rs 100 billion from such consumers.
He termed this is a dacoits on agricultural economy and alleged that power authorities were trying to hide their own incompetence, corruption and dishonesty by recovering money from consumers. Sardar Zafar said that growers were paying power bills by selling their animals, jewellery or homes but now they were not in a position to pay such bills any more.
He demanded that the government should immediately withdraw fuel adjustment, electricity duty and other so-called charges and provide electricity to the growers of Punjab on flat rates in line with the rates being applied on growers from Balochistan.
He said that load shedding and heavy electricity charges were aimed at creating an artificial food crisis in the country. KBP Chief said that growers were not in a position to pay the bills. If Wapda tried to cut the electricity then growers will resist and government will be responsible of the situation arising out of it, he warned.