Opposition condemns load shedding

The joint Opposition in National Assembly on Tuesday strongly condemned the un-announced load shedding in the country. Muhammad Laeeque Khan of MMA raised a calling attention notice on the frequent load shedding in the country causing severe problems for the masses.
Muhammad Hussain Mehanti of MMA criticised the Water and Power Ministry for not attracting investment in power sector, which is main reason of load shedding. However, Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi said that setting up of power plants is a responsibility of the Wapda.
Fareed Ahmad Paracha of MMA condemned the government saying that the government was unable to tackle electricity theft, and questioned 'who is responsible for this crime'. Jatoi said: "This is not my responsibility. The Ministry cannot do anything on the issue," he added.
Sabir Hussain Awan of MMA condemned the government and said that in his constituency, in NWFP, the government resorted to 6 to 12 hours' load shedding and people are helpless. However, the Minister said that more budgetary allocations were required for producing electricity and in the given limited budget it was not possible to resolve this issue.
He said that people usually waste electricity and there is no concept of saving electricity, saying that the whole nation must have in mind that if they will save the electricity, it can be used for industrial development.
The Minister said that in big cities shopping centres remain open till late night and most people do not save electricity and in the end electricity wastage results into load shedding.
Water and Power Minister said that the Karachi was earlier given 500 megawatts electricity and now the government reviewed the policy and 700MW electricity was given to the city so that business and industrial production may not collapse adding that there is shortfall of 600MW.
He said that on the directives of Prime Minister, he visited Karachi three times and PM called the meeting and reviewed the shortfalls. Moreover, electricity conservation plan will be sent to the Prime Minister soon.
The Minister said that due to 10 percent overall growth in economy demand for electricity has risen and electricity theft and wastage issues are the root causes of frequent load shedding. The Minister said that 1500 to 2000MW electricity will be produced to meet electricity demand and recommended that awareness must be developed among the masses to save electricity for economic growth.