Unannounced outages ended, claims govt

The Ministry of Water and Power on Friday announced that unannounced load shedding had been ended across the country and electricity shortfall had been reduced to 4,000MW. The ministry said that public sector thermal plants had been directed to generate electricity at full capacity that would help add 1,000MW to the national grid. The announcement by the Water and Power Ministry came as sporadic protests against load shedding continued across Punjab on Friday. In Lahore, outraged people torched tyres, pelted stones and blocked several roads for traffic. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar informed the Senate that due to tripping at all four points of Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) and some points in Balochistan, there was a complete shutdown in Karachi and major load shedding in other parts of the country on Thursday. Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Mian Raza Rabbani and others‚ he said the problem was resolved shortly and now the supply was almost normal. He said a number of steps were being taken to reduce load shedding. The ministry spokesman said Rs 7 billion had been issued to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and thermal power houses had increased electricity generation. He said generation of 2,000 megawatt electricity would start within two days. The decision was taken on the directives of President Asif Ali Zardari, who ordered the resolution of power shortage within 24 hours. Also, PEPCO reduced unscheduled load shedding in Punjab following Thursday’s violent protests in almost all major cities. According to a PEPCO spokesman, a total of 3,669MW was being generated from hydel power plants, 1,236MW from thermal power plants and 5,702MW from IPPs.