Pakistan Television being robbed of Rs 2.4 billions

Pakistan Television being robbed of Rs 2.4 billions

Some things are so outrageous that it is very hard to believe them but you have to. For example, Pakistan Television is being robbed of Rs 2.4 bil-lions every year and it is not even complaining.
It was, no doubt, a brilliant move to arrange compulsory collection of the annual television fee through the electricity bill in 12 monthly install-ments. The arrangement increased the collection many times, far more than PTV ever got, even after engaging a contractor to do it. Pakistan Television could now spend much more on improving its content and infrastructure. It could also get rid of the commercials that were such a pain to us all. The compulsory collection also removed the injustice to those who, like me, had been always paying the license fee while most viewers did not, without los-ing a bit.
Some time ago, I read in a newspaper that Pakistan Television was now collecting Rs 2.40 billions annually as fee. I felt there was something wrong. Dividing the sum by Rs 300 (license fee), I got a figure of electricity connections (8,000,000), which was far too low, considering the fact that WAPDA had covered almost the entire country. However, I could not get the real count.
A few days ago, the Chairman, WAPDA, in an interview on PTV, gave the actual figure of electricity consumers in the country: 16 millions. When multiplied by the license fee, the total came to a staggering Rs 4.80 billions. How come PTV was getting just half of it?
A well-informed and reliable source told me that half of the fee was going to WAPDA as a service charge, when the banks and post offices did actual collection and WAPDA just forwarded the amount to PTV. Is that such an expensive process? By contrast, WAPDA pays only a few rupees to banks as collection charges for its own bills. The monthly installment of the TV fee included in the bill cost not a single paisa extra.
I don’t mind at all paying the TV fee of Rs 300 per year. I pay much more than that to my cable operator per month and a little less for my daily newspaper, again every month. But I am outraged that half of my fee goes to WAPDA, which also charges me for the electricity that runs my TV set.
How did the PTV bosses agree to such a shocking arrangement? Who decided that half of what the viewers pay to PTV should go to WAPDA? How did a government organization agree willingly to be robbed by another one?
Allah Hafiz!
Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Lahore

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Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Lahore

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