Tarar-Press-Conference As part of reform agenda, privatization process of DISCOs has begun: Tarar

Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture Attaullah Tarar said, as part of the present government's reform agenda, the process of privatization of DISCOs has been started after an amendment in the State Owned Enterprises Act.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 01 (By imtiaz Ali Abbasi  chief Reporter):

Addressing a press conference along with  Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Mustafa Kamal here Thursday, the information minister said that he pointed out that inefficiency and corruption of DISCOs span over several decades. Therefore, he said it was decided to bring competent and professional people from the private sector to run the DISCOs free from any political interference.

He said a delegation of MQM Pakistan comprising Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mustafa Kamal met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and matters related to electricity bills and IPP issue were discussed.

The minister appreciated the MQM for always showing responsibility and constructive approach towards resolving national issues and played a positive role in the reforms agenda.He said that he was grateful to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for raising its voice on this issue.

Attaullah Tarar said that the matter of electricity tariff was the issue of the entire nation and a collective approach was needed to overcome this issue. "When the PML-N government came to power in 2013, it  ended 18-hour load shedding," the minister  said, adding at that  time Punjab and Federal Governments had installed the cheapest power plants.

Through this amendment, he added, the process of privatization of discos has started".

He said that electricity consumers using 200 units were given a Rs 50 billion subsidy for three months and this amount was taken from PSDP budget to provide relief to the electricity consumers in summer, adding that steps were also afoot regarding the cases of over-billing, controlling power theft in collaboration with the provincial governments.

 The minister said that the deadline for payment of electricity bills had been extended by 10 days to facilitate the consumers.

The minister maintained that IPPs were not a political issue and discussions were going on over the issue of IPPs.

Everyone wants electricity to be cheap, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said and added thar the economic reforms agenda was aimed to create fiscal space to make electricity cheaper, as everyone wanted to reduce power tariff.

Thanking the MQM leaders for highlighting this issue of national nature, the minister said that it was the collective duty of all the government allies to give their suggestions and input. Some people wanted to use this issue for political point scoring though they themselves were in power in the past, he expressed.

Replying to the questions of the media, the information minister said that action had been taken against those involved in the wheat import issue. He said that the digitization process of the Federal Bureau of Revenue was going on with the cooperation of Melinda Gates Foundation, for which the government of Pakistan had not spent a single rupee. He said that due to the government's efforts, the number of filers was increasing continuously.

"As part of reduction in the government expenditures, the Pakistan Works Department, a hotbed of corruption, had been closed by the government and this step would save hundreds of billions of rupees annually. No one had laid hands on the PWD mafia till date, but it was Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who  boldly closed the PWD department as part of  the economic reform agenda. Matters regarding rightsizing and downsizing are progressing at fast speed and their results will become clear soon, the minister said.

He said that an important Chinese delegation was on visit to Pakistan.

The minister said that the government was trying to implement a reform agenda as early as possible.

To a question, he said that in 2018, when PML-N left power, the inflation rate was only four percent whereas the growth rate was at 6 percent. He said after four years of what he called, "Pinky, Gogi and Kaptan" misrule the country faced destruction and inflation reached 23 percent, growth rate fell from 6 percent reduced to only 1 percent. He said that hatred and violence were fostered in the country during the four-year of PTI rule.

 The minister opined that if the country had defaulted, there would have been a civil war in the country.

He said that the PML-N and its allies saved the country from default after coming into power following a no confidence motion in the National Assembly against the then Prime Minister.

He said that last night, the prices of petroleum products had been reduced to provide relief to consumers and despite provision, Petroleum Development Levy was not implemented.

During the  PTI's tenure, he said that the value of the rupee was so unstable that exporters could not understand at what rate to export their goods, but due to prudent policies of the present government, the rupee was stable today and the inflation rate had decreased considerably.

To a question, he said that IPPs issue was not a political issue and could not be resolved through sit-ins and agitation. He asked the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami to end the protest and sit with the government. 

Answering a query, he said that a "spoilt child" who had been inciting the party supporters on violence and subversion was now pleading for holding talks. However he said the talks offer was part of a conspiracy of his mind and he could not give up his subversive agenda.