Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a big relief for common people by exempting more than half of the electricity consumers from Fuel Adjustment Charges.
Talking to media in Doha on Tuesday, he said there are around 30 million electricity consumers in Pakistan out of which 17.1 million will be exempted from the FAC, while a strategy to provide relief to rest of the users will also be evolved.
Shehbaz Sharif said that 300,000 agricultural tube wells will also be exempted from the Fuel Adjustment Charges. He said Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan will formally announce a mechanism in this regard.
The Prime Minister said FAC is linked with the fluctuation in the prices of fuel in the international market. He said increased fuel prices in the international market in June this year led to higher electricity bills that month.
The Prime Minister said the government has already withdrawn fixed tax levied on traders. He said there will be gap of 42 billion rupees after repealing this tax and this gap will be filled through other means instead of burdening the small traders. He said this tax was levied on small businessmen to save them from blackmailing of various departments, but outcome of this taxation was not good.
Shehbaz Sharif said increasing traders' problems is against the spirit and vision of the present government. He said a committee has been constituted to probe this matter and fix the responsibility.
Source: Radio Pakistan