KARACHI, June 1: A high-level meeting, held here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, decided to enforce new timings for shops whereby shops would open in the morning and close at dusk with effect from June 15.

Various other steps to conserve energy to provide relief to people were also considered at the meeting.

The governor exhorted the KESC to increase its power generation capacity, and made it clear that ad hoc measures, including acquiring electricity from other sources, were meant to provide relief to people.

However, he emphasised, the KESC would have to work speedily to streamline its system on a permanent basis.

The governor had summoned the concerned authorities to the Governor’s House on Thursday in view of the widespread complaints of power failures in the city.

The meeting was attended by City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, Managing Director of Siemens, CEO of KESC and other officials.

It was decided that the order to observe the new shop timings would also be applicable to the shops located in the areas falling in the jurisdiction of the Defence Housing Authority.

The meeting decided that streetlights would be kept off in unpopulated areas for the time being.

The governor directed the officials that loadshedding in city’s congested areas should not be carried out. However, if extremely necessary, it should be done with prior information.

He praised the spirit of tolerance of Karachiites who, despite all hardships, understood the complicated situation and showed patience.

The meeting was informed that as a result of the work on projects related to power supply, the situation would improve in the next three months. In the meantime, efforts would continue for providing immediate relief to people through temporary measures.

It was pointed out that once the situation returned to normal, the normal shop timings would be restored.

The meeting was informed that during the first week of June, the electricity demand during peak hours would be 2,284 megawatts whereas the KESC was producing 1,136 megawatts out of its own resources and managing 2,084 megawatts through the supplies from Wapda and other sources. Thus, a shortfall of 200 megawatts was being faced and this would be met through ad hoc measures, besides ensuring supplies from Wapda.

During the meeting, the governor also talked to the federal Minister for Water and Power, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, who assured him of continued supplies from Wapda.

The governor had an appraisal from the concerned officials regarding power supply projects and the short- and long-term programmes thereof. He directed them to carry out all these projects at an accelerated pace.—APP