Blackout of electricity in Turbat continued to fuel anger amidst the people from decades whereas the fluctuation of electricity always made the situation worse. Living in such a place without electricity is near to impossible. The measures taken by QESCO administration and government in order to improve the provision of electricity are under severe criticism. QESCO administration is trying to get rid of illegal connections which will ultimately reduce the power consumption about 50 percent because mostly people are using air conditioners illegally. It will reduce the burden that is obvious but it will also affect the living in Turbat. The method which QESCO is utilizing doesn’t seem to be appropriate and the taxes which federal government imposed on electricity made it extremely difficult for the user to pay. If we have a glance over the electricity bill then we find heavy taxes including General sales tax (GST), Electricity duty, Finance costing surcharge, Neelum Jhelum surcharge and T.V. fees. The reservation of people is also true that they are paying thousands of rupees without being assured that these taxes will be reinvested upon them. Every individual in Turbat is criticizing that QESCO is fixing bills without meter reading as they are receiving bills of 30,000 for only using fans and electric bulbs. Some of the businessmen also criticized that due to corona pandemic they didn’t open their shops, schools and restaurants but yet they have to pay a huge amount to QESCO. We request government that before imposing taxes government must have a close look over the per capita income otherwise it will compel the civilians to get illegal connections, indulging in misuse of government resources and this insanity of government will give birth to a corrupt nation. We also request the electric providing companies to consider alternate sources for power generation as such kind of regions are very suitable for converting solar energy into electrical energy and they must consider cheaper provision of electricity so that it must not become a burden on people to pay. If government had considered the above suggestions than such kind of measures of removing illegal connections would have gained popularity instead of criticism.
Shahzad Shabeer Turbat