National

PM reviews power situation

June 25, 2012

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Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Sunday presided over a meeting at the Sindh Governor’s House to review the power situation in the country.
The meeting was a follow-up of Saturday’s meeting held at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad, in which important decisions were taken to reduce load shedding on the war footing.
The prime minister was apprised by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan that they would hold negotiations with all the stakeholders today and tomorrow to get their cooperation for increasing power generation in the province.
The chief minister and governor assured the prime minister that it would be their top consideration to extend all possible support to the federal government in reducing load shedding in the country as soon as possible.
Federal Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain informed the PM that the Faisalabad power plant has started its operation per decision taken in Saturday’s meeting at the PM House. It would produce 65MW electricity each day, he added.
Others who attended the meeting were Information Federal Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo and Federal Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal. Prime Minister Ashraf ordered provision of more oil to power plants to produce more electricity.
A spokesman of the Ministry of Water and Power said they had started providing 15 million cubic feet gas to the Power Turbine Station Faisalabad, adding that PSO had also provided more oil to power plants.

Rawalpindi traders warn of civil disobedience if load shedding continues

The Rawalpindi Markaz-e-Anjuman-e-Tajran has threatened of starting a civil disobedience movement if the government fails to end the prolonged load shedding within a week. Rawalpindi MTA office bearers Zafar Qadri, Malik Shahid and Ghafoor Paracha said unscheduled load shedding had destroyed their business. They said the country was facing the worst ever energy crisis but the rulers were busy looting the national exchequer. “If the forced electricity load shedding did not end within a week, traders will start a civil disobedience movement and stage a sit-in outside the President House,” said Shahid Ghafoor Paracha, and added that Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was a dummy prime minister who could not resolve the power crisis.