Summary Nawaz Sharif demands a report on load shedding from Ministry of Water and Power.
ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken the notice of unannounced load shedding today (Sunday). According to the sources, Prime Minister expressed great annoyance with the situation of power cuts in the country during the holy month of Ramzan, Dunya News reported.
Prime Minister has ordered the Ministry of Water and Power to present a report to him on the reasons of such extensive load shedding in the country. Prime Minister also asked the ministry to present before him the load shedding schedule.
Moreover, PM Nawaz Sharif also asked the ministry to share with him a detailed report about the system issues that cause unannounced load shedding. He ordered to complete the upgrading process of the transmission and distribution systems as early as possible.
PM also said that instead of giving relief to the common people, load shedding is giving them sleepless nights. He said that the issue must be resolved on priority basis.
According to the sources, the current short fall in the country has exceeded 7000 mega watts. On July 4, 2014, Secretary for Water and Power Nargis Sethi had stated before the standing committee in the Parliament that the transmission and distribution system is so weak and outdated that it cannot carry more than 15,000 mega watts of electricity.
Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali, Federal Minister of State for Water and Power, had also said while talking to the media in Faisalabad that transmission lines are being worked at and the system will be upgraded as early as possible.
Now, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the upgrading process on distribution system to be expedited. According to Dunya News, load shedding has surpassed 8 – 10 hours threshold in the urban areas while rural areas are facing more than twelve hours load shedding daily.
The schedule announced by WAPDA at the beginning of the Ramzan month had planned load shedding of six hours in urban areas and seven hours in the rural areas. The schedule was followed throughout the country during the first week of the month but since the temperatures have risen again, the load shedding has gone beyond the limits that were set earlier by the government.
