ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered to reduce long hours of loadshedding, observed during last two days in many areas of the country.

Despite the fact that power generation had gone up to around 14000 MW but the people had been facing the same level of loadshedding when gap of demand and supply was very wide, he noted.

The prime minister observed this during a high level meeting of Energy Committee held here at the PM House on Tuesday which was attended by Minister for Water and Power Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr. Asim Hussain and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira as well as the Secretaries of relevant ministries.

The prime minister, accompanied by all the participants, left the meeting and paid a surprise visit, without protocol, to National Power Control Centre (NPCC), Islamabad, to ascertain the exact position of power generation and its distribution.

During the visit, the prime minister directed the management to remove flaws in the distribution system and make sure that the people face minimum of loadshedding.

The prime minister further directed that there should be no loadshedding during “Iftar and Sehar” times.

The prime minister has also summoned a meeting of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association and the CEOs of DISCOs (Distribution Companies) tomorrow aimed at taking them into confidence regarding the implementation of minimum loadshedding plan keeping in view the added demand of electricity due to holy month of Ramazan and the continuous hot and humid weather in the country.

The prime minister directed the federal minister for petroleum to ensure uninterrupted and sufficient supply of fuel oil to the power sector.

The supply of available gas should also continue, the prime minister directed.

The finance minister said that his ministry would continue to extend full financial support to the power sector in order to minimize the gap between demand and supply of electricity in the country.