The Punjab Cabinet has on Thursday approved the Annual Plan and Strategy for 2011-12, prepared by Provincial Energy Department, to overcome energy crisis in the province. Also, it granted approval to the recruitment of 32,000 science teachers in the province, annual report of the Punjab Pension Fund, amendment bills of Punjab Civil Servants Act 1974 and Disposal of Land by Development Authorities (Regulations) Act 1998.
The Punjab Cabinet met here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, disclosed an official. The Cabinet was told that teachers would be recruited on merit and in a transparent manner in accordance with the policy of Punjab government. On the occasion, the Chief Minister rejected the proposal of housing department to allocate Chief Minister's quota of plots in development authorities.
Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said Pakistan is facing serious energy crisis, which is badly affecting industry, trade, agriculture, livestock and other sectors and leaving a negative impact on economy. He also said industrial sector in Punjab has been worst hit by power crisis; thus there is a need for taking measures on war footing to cope with the energy crisis. "After the granting of powers to the provinces by the Council of Common Interests to initiate energy projects, a heavy responsibility has come on the shoulders of provincial government to complete power generation projects expeditiously," he added.
According to him, there is a scope of power generation through coal, bagasse, hydle, solar and wind and the Punjab government is working on various projects of energy production through alternative sources. Besides working on projects of power generation, a solid strategy has also been adopted for energy conservation in the province and its implementation will result in conservation of up to 30 percent energy during the next two years. A programme has also been evolved to launch pilot projects of solar energy in the offices of commissioners, district co-ordination officers and other government departments.
Similarly, conversion of geezers operated by gas into solar geezers is also being considered so that the huge quantity of the gas thus saved could be supplied to industries. He said a planning has been made for the generation of 3000-megawatt power through implementation of various projects during the next three years, which include coal, hydle, bio-gas, biomass, solar and wind power projects.