Protests against inflated power bills continued in different cities on Sunday as the people demanded that government servants also pay the bills.
Footage showed the people took to the streets and burned the bills. The hashtag “Electricity Bills” was still among the top trends on X as they shared videos and pictures of their bills.
The government was scheduled to meet today (Sunday) for an emergency meeting on exorbitant bills. The meeting has been summoned to provide maximum relief to the people.
Officials from water and power distribution companies would attend the meeting. The government has set up a control room for monitoring.
The Lahore chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami held a protest in the city. “Sixteen types of taxes have been added to the bill,” JI leader Ahmed Salman Baloch. “Poor people pay the bill while the elites use billions of rupees of free electricity.”
Protesters in Bahawalpur blocked the National Highway that connects Sindh and Punjab.
Protesters in Azad Jammu and Kashmir announced that they would start the ‘Metre Utaro’ campaign on September 6. While in Kotli, many people chanted slogans of ‘Mehngi Bijli Na Manzoor’.
According to the government, the increase in electricity tariffs has affected consumers utilising more than 400 units while the tariff remained unchanged for 63.5% of domestic consumers.
The electricity price was hiked to Rs6.5 per unit for 31.6% of domestic consumers, Federal Secretary of the Power Division Rashid Mahmood Langrial said on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement called on the government to take immediate steps to address the people’s concerns.
“If steps are not taken for immediate relief regarding electricity bills, then — due to the difficulties being faced by the people — we will not only be forced to become a part of their protest but will […] also have to announce some steps,” Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said at a press conference in Karachi.
Siddiqui lamented that the burden of Wapda’s circular debt was being put on the shoulders of the people of Karachi.
