KARACHI: The K-Electric has silently started charging Karachi consumers Municipal Utility Charges and Taxes (MUCT), a controversial tax on behalf of the Sindh government.
Former federal government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the opposition parties blocked the Sindh government’s attempt to collect Municipal Utility Charges and Taxes (MUCT) for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) through KE power bills for the past year.
The citizens of Karachi are now being silently charged a range of amounts under the heading of MUCT, according to a report in Daily Dawn, and many power users learned about it after receiving their new electricity bills this week. They were astonished to discover an additional charge listed on their already inflated bill as “MUCT (KMC),” which they regarded as shocking.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, the head of Jamaat-i-Islami Karachi chapter, rejected the move saying KMC charges levied in K-Electric bills are not acceptable under any circumstances.
کے الیکٹرک کے بلوں میں KMC چارجز کسی صورت قابل قبول نہیں۔ سندھ حکومت بلوں میں لگنے والے الیکٹرسٹی چارجز کے اربوں روپے کا حساب دے۔
— Naeem ur Rehman (@NaeemRehmanEngr) September 15, 2022
It is worth mentioning that the MUCT was first imposed by the then City District Government Karachi during the tenure of former Karachi Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal in 2009. Currently, the KMC is itself collecting the tax but due to low recovery Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had last year proposed that the tax be collected via KE bills.
According to KE spokesperson the provincial government asked KE to collect Municipal Utility charges & taxes (MUCT) under Chapter-X Section 100 (1) of the Sindh Local Government Act.
“The utility did not want to burden its consumers with an additional tax. However, it was asked by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government to collect the tax on behalf of Sindh government.” An anonymous senior KE official was quoted as saying in Daily Dawn.
