The demand of the Mohajir province has surfaced to prevent the creation of the Seraiki province, said Federal Water & Power Minister Syed Navid Qamar.
He said this while addressing the media during a ceremony to inaugurate a road in the Hanif Bajwa village of Tando Muhammad Khan.
The minister said that the establishment of the Seraiki province was a long-time demand of the Seraiki people and that all the political parties supported it.
“The Mohajir province issue is being raised to thwart the Seraiki province,” he said, adding that a new province could be made only in the Punjab province.
About the energy shortfall and the long hours of electricity load shedding being carried out across the country, he said that the government is continuously adding new projects to the national grid, but at the same time, the demand of electricity is also increasing.
“We shall buy 300 megawatts to 500 megawatts of power from India. The project will be finalised in about six months,” he added.
He projected an increase in power production from the dams that would get more water due to the recent rains and ice fall in the upper catchments of the Indus River.
However, he emphasised the need of energy conservation, which is important in conjunction with energy production. He said that windmills would be set up in Gharo and Jati for energy production.
Talking about the recent hike in the prices of gas and petroleum products, the minister said that no government, especially one which is in the election year, could afford to increase the prices.
According to him, the government was compelled to increase the prices because of the rise in oil prices in the international market.
He said that the meteorologists are expecting heavy rainfall this year in the monsoon season and the need of the hour is to chalk out a strategy to deal with the climatic effect.
The minister was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Barkat Ahmed Rizvi and leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Earlier, he had inaugurated a 3-kilometre road constructed at the cost of Rs 12.2 million in the village of Hanif Bajwa.
