ISLAMABD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday while rejecting the reasoning of Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif behind the load-shedding across the country, said that power outages were getting worse and being aggravated by theft and corruption.
Imran Khan tweeted: “Kh Asif admitted power shortfall today 5400 MW vs 4000 MW this time last yr & blamed it on heat! Did he not know abt Pak’s hot weather?”
He said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s government admits increase in circular debt to Rs385 billion and rising further
“IPPs have issued notice to encash sovereign guarantees”, he added.
He further said that consumers being made to pay the price through inflated bills.
On Monday, Khawaja Asif had said that power outages of 10-12 hours will continue in areas where recovery is not up till 90%.
During a news conference, Khawaja Asif said they were making efforts to provide power supply to people of the country.
“[For instance] we have de-electrified by taking off transformers from areas where people steal electricity and do not pay the bills,” the minister said.
“This move has created social pressure, making many install meters in their houses and reducing power theft.”
The demand for electricity in the country is 17,140 megawatt, which is an increase of 2,000MW from the units required during the same time last year, he said.
According to reports from different parts of the country, electricity shortfall was registered at more than 4,000MW. The reports state power remained suspended for 10 hours in some parts of Lahore.
In the region under Lahore Electric Supply Company, demand was 2,800MW, the supply stood at 2,200MW, showing a shortfall of 600MW. Unannounced load-shedding, in Lahore as well as other cities and towns of the province, impeded the daily routine. The increase temperatures and mosquitoes made people’s lives miserable in cities and rural areas.
Moreover, a few days ago, the workers of Jamaat-e-Islami protested in Karachi against the recent hike in tariff by K-Electric, believing the company was overcharging power consumers.—Agencies
