Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Asharf on Friday removed the removed the federal secretary for water and power Zafar Mahmood after taking serious notice of the continued load shedding across the country. Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi has been given the additional charge of the Water and Power Ministry. Zafar Mahmood has been directed to report to the Establishment Division. The PM had since long been cross with Mahmood over his failure to better the power supply situation.
In the cabinet meeting on September 26, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had furiously reprimanded Zafar Mahmood over continued load shedding in the country. Ashraf had lashed out at Mahmood for his failure to ease the power crisis, cutting down the circular debt and failing to effectively coordinate between the ministries of water and power and oil and gas to ensure sustained provision of furnace oil, gas and other necessities to independent power producers (IPPs).