Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has directed the Ministry of Water and Power to take immediate measures to improve power supply and use all available resources to ensure power generation was optimised so that minimum load shedding was carried out across the country.
He passed the directives while chairing a high-level meeting to review the power generation plants in the country.
The meeting was called to discuss the power situation in the country after the prime minister took notice of reports of excessive load shedding being carried out in the country.
Ministry of Water and Power Additional Secretary Arshad Mirza informed the prime minister that the main cause of increased load shedding was disruption of gas supply to Uch Power Plant due to sabotage.
The PM said all necessary measures should be taken to secure power installations, transmission lines and power installations throughout the country.
“No installation should be left unattended and a security plan should be submitted spelling out detailed arrangements for their protection”, emphasised the prime minister.
Khoso was told that load shedding in urban areas was 10-12 hours a day while it extended to 16-18 hours in rural areas.
The prime minister expressed concern over the present situation and desired that there must be a visible improvement in the situation that was possible through better management and resource mobilisation.
He observed that though the prime responsibility of his government was to hold general elections in the country, it was a duty of the government to provide relief to the people and ensure that basic necessities like electricity were available to them.
Khoso was told that the power situation which had worsened two days ago, was improving.
Khoso directed the Ministries of Water and Power, Petroleum, Interior and Finance to firm up short-term and medium-term plans with a view to minimise load shedding in the country, so that routine life was affected in a least possible manner.
The prime minister also directed Power Ministry to ensure the implementation of the plan worked out by the government and ensure that uninterrupted fuel was provided to thermal power plants.