By: Adeel Alvi
KARACHI: An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Energy Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh chaired a meeting with the officials of Hyderabad Electric Supply Corpany (HESCO) and Sukkur Electric Supply Company (SEPCO) today at the office of Sindh Energy Department .
The meeting was attended by Secretary Energy Sindh Abu Bakar Madani and other officials of Energy Department, while Chief Executive Officer HESCO Noor Ahmed Soomro, Chief Executive Officer SEPCO Saeed Ahmed, Chief Commercial Officer HESCO Sarfraz Ahmed, Director Commercial HESCO Raja Abdul Aziz and other officers were also present in meeting.
Sindh Minister for Energy, Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of HESCO and SEPCO and said that long intermittent load shedding was being carried out in the areas under the administration of HESCO and SEPCO, and it is said that there is load shedding for two to four hours while there is no electricity for 18 hours.
He said that the performance of HESCO SEPCO has also been discussed before the Prime Minister at the Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting. Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said that HESCO & SEPCO should have a clear plan for load shedding in their respective areas. He said that the Sindh government pays HESCO & SEPCO in advance for the provision of services but the reason for delay in work is said to be unavailability of goods. He asked why the equipments were not procured on time while Sindh government paid in advance and who is responsible for keeping the consumer behind for the provision of services, this is incomprehensible. He said that why shouldn’t Sindh government procure the equipments itself instead paying you or the equipments to be procured remain in our joint custody so that we can know where they are being installed.
He said that even complaints of faulty AMR meters are not being resolved for months. He asked who was responsible for fixing or replacing the faulty meters. Provincial Minister for Energy Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said that Sindh government is taking steps to provide facilities to its citizens but in the areas, where HESCO & SEPCO are operating, the people are facing severe problems due to power outages, faulty transformers, burning or malfunctioning of meters and over-billing. He said that the sufferings of the people should be alleviated at all costs.
Minister for Energy Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh also reviewed in detail the work of Village Electrification in the areas under the administration of HESCO and SEPCO and said that the work of Village Electrification is also suffering from slowdown. He directed that the pace of work on village electrification should be expedited and the details of the work done from today till the next meeting should be presented in the next meeting in the light of which the performance would be clear. The Sindh Energy Minister said that the Sindh government was cooperating fully with HESCO and SEPCO and the Sindh government was ready to cooperate at all times for the timely completion of the work.