A federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday approved restoring Saturday as a public holiday in order to “save electricity”.
Addressing a press conference following the cabinet meeting, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that restoring Saturday as a holiday would have an annual impact of $386 million and a $77 billion impact on the import bill.
She said that the power ministry had recommended changing Friday to a work-from-home day, adding that the prime minister had created a committee to gauge the efficiency of this measure and inform the cabinet about it in its next meeting.
The meeting further contemplated the early closure of markets to maximise the use of daylight.
The information minister added that Premier Shehbaz would hold a meeting on Wednesday with traders and the business community to take them into confidence before making a decision regarding the closure of markets.
She also said that the prime minister has approved a 40 per cent reduction in the fuel quota for all government employees, including cabinet members.
“If people are being asked to make sacrifices and go through hardships then so should the cabinet. The change has started from within the cabinet to reduce burden on the public,” she said.
Furthermore, the cabinet meeting would ratify the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee on June 3, and a plan for load shedding would be presented by the Power Division.
The information minister added that the cabinet meeting was briefed on ways to reduce load shedding and better the energy situation. It was also informed that the supply chain was facing shortages because fuel deals had not been made by the previous government.
The minister claimed that the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was unable to implement the projects which were started during the PML-N’s previous regime.
