May 08, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 7: The federal cabinet decided on Wednesday to hold a special meeting for preparing an emergency plan to add 2,200 megawatts of electricity to the national grid during the current year.

According to insiders, the cabinet did not discuss the critical issue of the postponement of by-polls or the role of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rahman Malik, who was blamed by the NWFP chief minister for manipulating the by-poll delay. Minister of Information Sherry Rahman termed the entire episode as a ‘case of miscommunication’ which ‘did not warrant any action against the adviser’.

She said the matter had been addressed by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and they had decided that by-polls should be held in the last week of June.

The meeting deferred a decision on reducing the work week to five days for energy conservation after some ministers sought a detailed discussion on the issue.

After the meeting, Ms Rahman said the prime minister had given the go-ahead to Minister for Water and Power Raja Parvaiz Ashraf to work out a strategy for the generation of additional electricity to bridge the huge gap between demand and supply.

She said that experts from the energy sector would be invited at the special cabinet meeting to discuss plans for enhancing power generation capacity and conservation.

The cabinet was also briefed on a proposed plan for constructing 100,000 residential units. The plan is part of prime minister’s 100-day programme.

The minister for housing told the cabinet that at present 35 per cent of the country’s urban population was either living in slum areas or in irregular housing schemes which needed to be regularised.

The minister said the cabinet also discussed reconciliation moves in Balochistan, including withdrawal of troops and ending the military operation, besides accelerating development activities. It decided to dispatch 100,000 tons of wheat from Sindh and 50,000 tons through Passco to boost flour supply in Balochistan.

She said that the cabinet was informed that wheat procurement was progressing at a satisfactory pace and the target of procuring 5 million tons would be achieved, adding that 1.5 million tons of imported wheat would also arrive on time.

Dr Safdar Sarki, she said, had been released at the intervention of the chief minister of Balochistan.

About the government’s media policy, the minister said that the new government had already introduced a bill to repeal amendments to Pemra laws introduced on Nov 3, 2007, and would table another bill in the next session of the National Assembly to repeal laws concerning the print media.

The minister assured journalists that the government was determined to resolving the issue of wage board award by involving all stakeholders.