Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has accused the federal government of subjecting Punjab province to open injustice and discriminatory treatment regarding the 16-hour daily load shedding. 'The people of Punjab, who are sick of prolonged power outages, are justified in registering their protest," he said.
He was addressing industrialists, traders, presidents of various Chambers of Commerce & Industry and representatives of traders organisations from across the province here on Saturday. Members of national and provincial assemblies and high ranking officials of the concerned departments, were also present on that occasion.
Shahbaz disclosed that he had called upon the Prime Minister to hold a joint meeting of all the four Chief Ministers in view of the gravity of power crisis, which would be held on Monday (tomorrow) in which he would present Punjab's case regarding the unprecedented load shedding in the province and discriminatory treatment to people of Punjab. The Chief Minister was hopeful that Punjab's point of view regarding equitable distribution of power would be accepted towards.
He lamented that the country was in the throes of worst ever power crisis owing to which agriculture, trade, industry and other sectors were getting badly impaired. Shahbaz said it was for the first time that the employer and the employed were together protesting against the power outages. Shahbaz pointed out that the load shedding had not only badly affected the agriculture, industry and other sectors but also the workers, who were losing their jobs.
He said called for measures on war footings to overcome the power crisis and launching projects for generating electricity so that agriculture, trade and industry continue sustained growth. He pointed out that huge coal reserves have been found in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab, which could be used for power generation. He deplored that during the past dictatorial regime, Bhasha Dam project could not be completed despite the availability of abundant resources and opportunities.