KARACHI, March 27: The City Council on Thursday continued its deliberations on the persisting electricity crisis in the city and attacked the management of the Karachi Electric Power Corporation for its failure to overcome the crisis.

Through a resolution adopted unanimously, the council noted with concern that the ever-deepening power crisis affected every segment of society. It had made life miserable not only for domestic consumers but also for businessmen and the salaried class.

The resolution urged the federal government to exempt energy savers from all sales taxes and duties, making them available at reasonable prices to the common man. In this way, the resolution said, the current power shortage problem could be controlled to some extent.

The council session was presided over by senior presiding officer Masood Mehmud in the absence of house convener Nasreen Jalil, who is visiting the United Kingdom.

The resolution moved by the treasury benches was adopted in the absence of the opposition, who staged a walkout in protest against certain remarks of treasury member Arshad Qureshi, who accused the katchi abadis of stealing electricity. His remarks provoked uproar in the house.

Earlier, a heated debate took place in the house on the current power crisis. Opposition members held the KESC sell-off accord responsible for the present energy crisis and called for the abrogation of the power utility’s privatisation agreement. They said the electricity crisis, which did not allow students to concentrate on their studies and employees to discharge their duties with a peace of mind, also adversely affected the city’s economic progress.

Treasury members held the ill-advised policies of successive governments responsible for the current electricity, but at the same time they stressed the need for making joint efforts to overcome the situation. They also slated the independent power producers and the induction of the army into the KESC as some of the factors leading to the crisis.

Earlier, when the house resumed its session, Asif Siddiqui on a point of order drew the attention of the chair to what he called “certain harsh remarks” made by the leader of the opposition in the city council, Saeed Ghani, regarding “certain hard steps the future government has taken to deal with the present complicated situation”.

Taking the floor, Mr Ghani said he was misconstrued as his remarks were not taken in proper context by the member. Mr Ghani explained that he was talking about the current economic difficulties being faced by the country and the common man due to the ill-advised policies of the past rulers which called for drastic remedial measures.

However, he suggested that anyone irrespective of his status involved in corrupt practices must be made accountable, saying that people involved in the wheat flour, electricity and other scandals must not go scot-free.

Mr Ghani also defended the IPPs, saying that the ongoing power crisis would have been worse if there had been no IPPs.

He said he had opposed the privatization of the KESC because “we were of the considered opinion that privatization of national and public institutions such as the PIA, Pakistan Steel and the KWSB would in no way serve the interests of the country.” He said: “We were not against privatization, but we were against the privatization of national assets.”

He said the private sector should be encouraged so that there could be a healthy competition between public and private firms as was the case of PIA.

Thereafter, the presiding officer allowed treasury member Abdul Jalil to complete his submissions on the electricity crisis.

According to Mr Jalil, the KESC generated 1,242 megawatts of electricity from its different production units and it got 250MW from the IPPs and 600MW from Wapda. In this way, 2092MW electricity was available for the city while it required 2,600MW to meet its energy needs. Thus, there was a shortage of 508MW, he added.

Mr Jalil also argued that the KESC suffered an electricity loss of 780MW due to the defective distribution system, inefficiency and non-availability of technical staff.

Opposition leader Abdul Razzak called for the establishment of a commission to look into the causes of the current power crisis and other scandals, including the wheat flour crisis.

The presiding officer forbade the opposition member from raising controversial issues.

Juman Darwan, Ramzan Awan, Mirza Afaq Beg and Waqar Husain also participated in the debate.

In the absence of the opposition, the house also adopted another resolution which praised City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal for making “untiring efforts for the development of Karachi”.

The council empowered the city nazim to take necessary steps for the completion of the ongoing projects by removing all technical and procedural obstructions. The nazim was also authorized to enter into agreements with other parties in the interest of the city.

After the adoption of the resolution, the presiding officer adjourned the house to meet again on April 7.