Political leaders, traders express concern over power outages

Political leaders have expressed concerns over current power crisis, which has not only caused an irreparable loss to the industrial, trade and economy but also caused manifold problems for the masses.
The PML-N senior leader Muhammad Pervez Malik while talking to a delegation of businessmen asked the government to work on war-footing basis to put an end to the massive power outage, as its criminal negligence is adding fuel to the fire apart from mounting annoyance among the public.
The current power crisis has badly hit the economic activities in the country, he said adding that irritated industrialists and traders were forced to stage strong protests across the country as unscheduled loadshedding has ruined their businesses. He said that power crisis was hindering economic growth, as most of the industry had closed down, rendering hundreds of thousands workers jobless.
He said that government was blaming the previous government for the energy crisis. Undoubtedly, Musharraf regime pushed the country towards destruction, but what steps the current government had taken to resolve the issue in during the last two years, he asked.
He said that despite prolonged loadshedding, the government is bent upon increasing electricity tariff and prices of petroleum products. 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 the construction of Kalabagh Dam was a mega project of national interest, as it could help overcome the problem of water shortage.
The Vice-Chairman PIAF Khwaja Shahzaib Akram said that traders and industrialists had to suffer losses of billions of rupee due to current power crisis. He criticised the government and said its indifferent approach towards economic issues had caused a 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.
Khwaja Shahzeb Akram further said that national economy is on the verge of total collapse because of government's wrong and ill-conceived policies. Foreign investors were not showing interest in investing in Pakistan because of worsening law and order situation while local investors were facing difficulties to fulfil their foreign orders due to energy crisis, he added. He further said that price-hike has made the lives of the people miserable while continuous rising inflation had exposed government performance.