Ministry of Water and Power has no mechanism of load shedding: Hafeez Sheikh
Thursday, May 17th, 2012 11:50:27 by Faisal Farooq
In quite a surprising revelation, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh claimed that the Ministry of Water and Power had no mechanism of load shedding in the country.
He also further stated that the ministry failed to evaluate actual quantum of load shedding and the gap between scheduled and unscheduled power outages.
His disclosure left Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other cabinet members in shocking state as Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar did not deny the revelation.
Qamar even failed to satisfy the premier with his answers, keeping mum and showing confusing state over most of the queries raised by his colleagues.
The cabinet members said the said ministry could land the ruling coalition in hot waters during the next general elections, grilling the Minister for Water and Power.
A media report quoting official said the finance minister claimed that the PPP-led coalition government had injected Rs 1,000 billion to clear the circular debt, but could not do so and the issue was unaddressed due to poor recovery system from influential defaulters, either in public or private sector.
Urging the concerned ministry to establish a monitoring system to evaluate the actual power generation, he said the knowledge of gap between generation and requirement and schedule of load shedding will help in resolving the situation.
He claimed that all IPPS should have been producing power at full capacity and there should be no power outages in the country, if had the entire amount been paid.
The finance minister was of the opinion there was no solution of load shedding except power generation and power conservation. In the first phase, he said a task force should be formed up to monitor the system.
He commented, “He also pointed out that some influential were behind strategy to keep prices of gas lower so as to get cheaper gas for power generation”.
A suggestion was also presented by Hafeez Sheikh to Interior Ministry to use it resources to recover the amounts liable from defaulters as line loses were a major dent for the country.
He blamed provincial governments for poor recoveries, saying even the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government had moved the high court against the federal government after power tariff was raised.
Tags: Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, load shedding, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, power outage, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza GilaniShort URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=22546
Posted by Faisal Farooq
on May 17 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan.
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This country is simple incapable of dealing with this crisis. Silos, lack of communication, power turfs, politics, lack of capacity – are examples of this country being a banana republic.
When people through nepotism hold positions which they are not capable of filling, when corruption in every office, every position rules..when the government sells its country like Judas did with Jesus..what can one expect but disater for the population
We have elected wrong people to solve our problems. Till our countrymen fully understand that they have their VOTE which can change the coyntry’s fate and esolve, we have to remain in the deep well of troubles. Naveed Qamar, the poor chap has to wake up to start learning even the basic issues. Common men of Pakistan had to rise up to take their fate into their g
hands.