PM waives August electricity bills for flood-hit domestic consumers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday announced waiving the electricity bills of domestic consumers in the flood-affected regions of Pakistan as the country grapples with the challenge of rescue and relief operation with an eye on the long-term rehabilitation.

In an televised message, the prime minister said the government had directed the power distribution companies to return the amount next month to those who had already been deposited their monthly bills.

As far as the agricultural, commercial and industrial consumers are concerned, Shehbaz said collection of their monthly bills for August had been postponed.

However, the prime minister said the government was making an estimate of the losses suffered by the agricultural, commercial and industrial consumers. The government would more relief measures if their losses estimate exceeded the bills, he added.

About the devastation caused by the record-breaking floods, Shehbaz said the government institutions were working hard to deal with the catastrophe.

On the other hand, things have started to improving somewhat is Punjab where waterflow on Sunday at Panjnad — the confluence of Chenab and Sutlej — was 395,761 cusecs at 8pm.

It was an marked decrease against the exceptionally high flood of 703,698 cusecs recorded on September 11.

Read more: Water level rises at Guddu, exceptionally high flood at Panjnad

However, the Indus River was rising at Guddu where the Flood Forecasting Division (FDD) data showed an inflow of 633,508 cusecs with a outflow of 603,988 cusecs.

Meanwhile, the corresponding figures for Sukkur were 506,560 cusecs and 455,510 cusecs respectively with water level rising.

However, people in Multan — Jalalpur Pirwala and Shujabad — and Muzaffargarh — especially the Alipur area — were trying to cope with the alarming destruction to their homes and livelihood.