LAHORE: The agriculture sector has been doubly hit because of loadshedding of electricity after every hour, Pakistan People’s Party Punjab presidnet Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo says.

“Power loadshedding has impaired the tube wells rendering them unable to pump out water in sufficient quantity to meet irrigation requirements of the farmers, besides electricity being so expensive,” he said.

Mr Wattoo called upon the government to ensure three-hour uninterrupted power supply to farmers and industry that might be sufficient for meeting their irrigation needs to some extent and also of the industrial sector. “It is a matter of better management of the limited supply of electricity”, he added.

He recalled that during the PPP government that arrangement worked very well as it resulted in optimum utilisation of the limited power supply.

Mr Wattoo criticised the government for “doing nothing” to increase the power generation capacity of the country, adding that its hallow claims of controlling the loadshedding in months had exploded in their face as after a lapse of one-and-a-half years nothing had been done in this regard.

He said the power loadshedding had caused decline in textile exports, adding Pakistan could not benefit from European Union’s GSP Plus tariff concessions, incurring billions of dollars losses to the economy.

He said the roads in the province were also dilapidated because of lack of repairs. “The Punjab government is spending billions of rupees on one or two projects in mega cities at the expense of the rest of the province which cannot be justified”, he said.

Mr Wattoo further said sewerage system, particularly in rural areas, had totally broken down and the government was not giving due attention which could result in epidemics breakout.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2014