Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Sunday said the government had tightened noose around the electricity thieves across the country as they had been stealing electricity worth Rs 135 billion to Rs 200 billion.
Talking to the local media at his residence in Cantt, he said the PML-N had given up practice of taking loans from the international donors, saying it would be an unwise decision to borrow money for debt servicing.
He pledged that the electricity tariff would not be raised for the people belonging to low-income brackets.
He claimed the PML-N government had reduced the duration of power load shedding in the country despite the ongoing unavoidable circumstances. He said technical issues in the national grid system were also the main reason behind the ongoing load shedding, however, the PML-N had the capability to get the nation rid of prolonged and unbearable energy crisis.
Replying to a question, the minister pointed out that the electricity system was badly damaged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the alleged slackness of the previous governments.
Asif vowed to make Pakistan a load shedding-free country within a stipulate period of three years, adding the PML-N government had taken the issue of energy crisis as a challenge and the government was heading towards right direction.
He urged the masses to give up unnecessary use of electricity and lend a sharing hand of cooperation to the government for ending the power load shedding.