ISLAMABAD: Strong protests in parliament and on the street against frequent and prolonged power outages forced the government on Friday to release Rs23 billion to clear a part of circular debt to end at least the unscheduled loadshedding.
Minister of State for Water and Power Tasneem Qureshi informed the Senate that about Rs23 billion was being released on Friday to substantially reduce the duration of loadshedding. The money will be paid directly to independent power producers (IPPs) and Wapda’s generation companies (Gencos) for onward payment to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) for the purchase of fuel.
The minister’s statement came after a walkout by the PML-N in protest against the government’s failure to end the crisis and a warning by the PML-Q that enraged people may attack parliament if no immediate measures are taken to solve the problem.
Mr Qureshi regretted that some political parties were exploiting the situation to achieve political mileage. He said it was not merely a problem of the Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) but a nationwide issue, adding that KESC’s generation capacity was about 2,200MW but it was currently producing only 1,000MW and getting 500MW from the national grid.
Responding to a call-attention notice on a major power breakdown in Karachi on Thursday and the retrenchment policy of the KESC management, Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said that four points from where the KESC got 650MW a day had tripped simultaneously on the day, plunging a large part of Karachi into darkness.
He said the KESC management had no right to dismiss thousands of employees without serving show-cause notices. “The affected employees have invoked legal remedy and we will support them,” he said.
Mr Qamar denied reports that his ministry was taking over the KESC because of its failure to meet contractual obligations and said the ministry had no authority to directly take over the company. “The authority lies with Nepra which is somehow reluctant to do it because it thinks it could be easily challenged in court.”
He said the parliament should guide the government and set up a committee to look into the matter.
Mr Qamar accused the Punjab government of not implementing decisions on conservation measures taken at an energy conference it had hosted. He said he had endorsed a formula suggested by PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to tide over the crisis, but it could not be implemented without the cooperation of the Punjab government.
He said power generation had gone up by 2,000MW since Thursday and vowed to sustain it by providing more furnace oil and money. He said hydel generation would go up as the water situation at Tarbela and Mangla dams had improved. “We are closely monitoring the situation.”
The minister said the KESC was making investments to increase its generation capacity and a 560MW power plant in Bin Qasim was near completion. The company wanted more gas for the plant and the government was trying to get 500mmcfd from Port Qasim, he said, adding: “Then we will be able to take back 650MW being provided to KESC by Wapda.”
DARKEST ERA: Although the situation in the upper house was calm during the question hour for the first time in recent days, the opposition and treasury benches started trading allegations. Begum Najma Hameed of the PML-N described the four years of the PPP government as the ‘darkest era’ and called for implementing the Supreme Court’s verdict against the prime minister. Saeed Ghani of the PPP accused the Punjab government of being behind the incident in which offices of PML-Q and PPP legislators were set ablaze.
Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q said the nation was facing immense hardship because of loadshedding. “While a provincial government is exploiting the situation, the federal government’s attitude is non-serious,” he said.
The Senate session was prorogued sine die.
