ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that the current issue of load-shedding in the country was due to the policies of the PTI government.
“The PTI government neither purchased fuel in time nor repaired power plants. Hence the current load-shedding,” he said in a tweet.
PM Shehbaz Sharif recalled that previously, PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif during his government had ended the worst load-shedding in five years.
He mentioned that expensive power generation by the PTI government through inefficient plants was costing the people Rs100 billion per month.
PM Sharif said his government was making efforts to fix the problem of load-shedding.
As the country goes through large scale electricity load-shedding, PM Shehbaz Sharif directed the department concerned to slash power outages by the next month.
The directive came during PM Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to different departments during a hectic tour of Lahore on weekly off-day Sunday.
The premier also held back-to-back meetings and took notice of the widely reported issue. He said that immediate steps must be taken to reduce power outages and minimise the sufferings of people by the next month, May 2022.
“Until we get rid of load-shedding, I will not leave for China, and I will not allow anyone to relax,” PM Shehbaz Sharif said, adding that people were in trouble due to criminal negligence of the previous government.
The prime minister said that short and long-term measures should be taken till sufficient quantity of oil and gas was arranged to operationalise closed thermal power plants. He claimed that the outgoing government, led by Imran Khan, failed to add a single unit to the national grid, and also did not import LNG on cheaper rates on time.
Shehbaz had earlier expressed his annoyance over the prolonged load-shedding durations and directed the authorities concerned to take steps for significantly reduce the outages by the next month.
The prime minister had said that the country can generate an additional 6,000 megawatts (MW) of hydel power using the natural flow of water, which is linked to the melting of glaciers to address the issue of load shedding in different areas – an issue left unaddressed by the former PTI government.
