PESHAWAR: Marble factories owners have been on strike in Mardan, Buner and other districts against the fuel price adjustment in the electricity bills. However, marble unit in Peshawar have opposed the strike, saying that they should move to the court against the government.
“We have no other option but to shut down the units as we are unable to pay hefty bills,” the association said in a statement. They said that they have paid Rs.600, 000 to Rs1 million extra bills during the last few months.
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The marble factories owners have been on strike in Mardan, Buner and other districts against the fuel price adjustment in the electricity bills. said that they KP assembly has passed a unanimous resolution against the FPA and the high court has also declared the FPA in KP illegal as the province is producing cheap electricity through its hydel resources. The current production of the province is 5700 megawatts while it consumption is hardly 2300 megawatts. But the province is forced to purchase the electricity at much higher prices from the center.
The Malakand Marble association said that 80% of the province marble units were in crises because of high cost of electricity. “Through such policies, the government is snatching the source of living from the masses,” the association said.
On 3 February, the Awami National Party (ANP) has submitted an adjournment motion in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly against the ‘drastic’ increase in electricity bills due to Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA).
The motion also flayed the KP government our closure of factories in the province due to high taxes. The adjournment motion, submitted by Sardar Hussain Babak, the provincial general secretary and parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party, said that marble and other factories in Buner, Swat and other areas have been closed due to the “exorbitant” increase in taxes. “Factory owners and thousands of workers have been forced to protest and thousands of families of factory workers are now jobless,” the adjournment motion said.
Babak claimed that KP generates 6500 Megawatt of electricity at a cost of Rs15 paise per unit however; the province has to purchase it from the federal government at much high price. The adjournment motion said that the central government should abide by the constitution and allow provinces to benefit from their natural resources.