Business and political leaders have expressed serious reservations over the current power crisis, which has not only caused an irreparable loss to the activities of industry and trade, and the economy in the country but has also caused manifold problems for the masses.
PML-N MNA Muhammad Pervez, while talking to a delegation of businessmen, asked the government to work on war-footing to put an end to the massive power outages, as its criminal negligence is adding fuel to the fire beside mounting annoyance in the public. The current power crisis has badly hit the economic activities in the country, he said.
He added that irritated industrialists and traders are forced to stage strong protests across the country as unscheduled huge power outages have ruined their business. He said that power crisis is burdening the economy and hindering the growth, as most of the industry has shut down, rendering hundreds of thousands of workers jobless.
He said that the government was blaming the previous government for energy crisis. There is no doubt about the fact that Musharraf regime shoved the country towards destruction but what steps were taken by the government to ease the situation during the last two years, he asked.
He said, "As the heat of summer is piling up, the anger of people is also notching up but Federal Minister for Water and Power is busy to pass the time and offering remedy of load shedding by asking minimising the use of electricity," he said. He said that despite massive load shedding, the government is bent upon increasing electricity tariff and prices of petroleum products without considering for a moment the interests of the nation.
He said that the government should wake up and put an end to the power crisis otherwise it should remember the revolution of Kyrgyzstan where the angry people ended the government in a day. He also urged the government to start work for construction of Kalabagh dam, which was shelved by the PPP government in May 2008. He said that KBD is a mega project of national interest, as it could easily curtail the menace of water shortage.
He said that while "killing" the Kalabagh dam, the PPP government even did not bother to think that country is facing nasty energy crisis, agriculture sector is dying, fertile land is becoming useless because of shortage of water. He said that the people who are crying against Kalabagh Dam always shun saying a single word against Baghliar Dam, which shows their loyalty. He said that government should utilise all resources available in the country to generate electricity and also construct Kalabagh dam, otherwise trade, and industry and ultimately economy would be devastated.
The vice-chairman of PIAF, Shahzaib Akram said that traders and industrialists have to suffer billions of rupees losses due to current power crisis. He criticised the government and said its indifferent approach on economic issues has caused serious setback to the country's economy. He urged the rulers to learn a lesson from revolution in Kyrgyzstan before it is too late. He asked the government to take immediate steps to put an end to power outages.
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