KABUL - Meshrano Jirga or upper house of parliament on Tuesday welcomed disclosing the names of power defaulters and asked the debtors to pay off their arrears soon.
Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) officials on Monday said several government departments owed 600 million afs in unpaid bills to the power utility and a number of government officials and civilians had to pay 700 million afs in outstanding bills. They said the debtors had failed to clear their bills of two months.
DABS spokesman Wahidullah Tawhidi unveiled a list of 73 individuals to media outlets who owed more than 100,000 afs to DABS.
Senator Mohammad Hassan Hottak hailed DABS move of disclosing the list of defaulters and told today’s session: “This money belongs to the national treasury and the officials concerned must pay it without any delay.”
He said representatives in parliament should support DABS and press defaulters to clear their dues.
Jumma Din Gayanwal, another Meshrano Jirga member said, “The non-payment of power bills is treason and an act of stealing public purse, all people disclosed in the list have the ability to pay their bills, they should pay them as soon as possible.”
Another public representative, Latif Zhwandai, welcomed the power utility for publishing the list of defaulters and said the parliament supported DABS in collecting its arrears.
Meshrano Jirga chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar and a number of other members of the upper house also urged the power defaulters to pay their bills. (Pajhwok)