Govt fails to douse anger as citizens burn power bills

ISLAMABAD: With the nationwide protests over massive power bills growing, the caretaker government has failed to come up with any relief measures as it tries to strike a balance between avoiding drawing the IMF’s ire and causing more citizens to blow a fuse. In the cabinet meeting presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday, the interim set-up expressed helplessness on how to address the issue, even on spreading electricity bills in instalments unless the International Monetary Fund cleared it. Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, who didn’t immediately hold a presser after the cabinet’s meeting, later told a private TV channel that the government was engaging with the IMF regarding relief measures for electricity consumers and an announcement was expected soon. Mr Solangi told anchor Meher Bokhari that the cabinet took decisions for providing short-, medium- and long-term relief to consumers. However, he cautioned that these decisions entailed some implications on which the IMF needed to be taken on board. “As we speak, our Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar is talking to them. So, I hope we will soon be in a position to make the announcement,” he said.