PHOTO: AFP
In a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCE) held on May 30, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had directed the federal authorities to include representatives of the provinces in matters related to the power sector.
This was also confirmed in a statement issued by the PM House. “The prime minister emphasised on the inclusion of provincial representatives in decision making on important issues related to the power sector,” it said.
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The decision was taken in a bid to allay concerns of the provinces, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh in particular, due to power outages in the two provinces that have not gone down well with the respective PTI and PPP governments.
However, even after nearly two weeks of the cabinet committee decision, no headway has been made in this regard and no provincial representative has been appointed so far despite the fact that the provinces have been fuming over extended power outages.
Official sources said although the PM issued the instruction verbally during the meeting on the inclusion of the provincial representatives, no written instructions to this effect have been issued.
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“The bigwigs keep issuing verbal instructions for public consumption and attracting media attention. But until and unless anything is issued in writing, it carries no legal weight,” a source in the federal government said.
“The PM House,” he said, “has been silent on the issue since the last CCE meeting.”
PM House Spokesman Musadik Malik was not available to comment on the issue.
PM’s Adviser Ameer Muqam said the PM’s instructions would be implemented in letter and spirit.
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“Such measures require a bit of time for implementation. It doesn’t mean that the issue has gone in the cold storage. Legal processes would be followed before the inclusion of the provinces in decision making regarding the power sector. But this would be eventually done, soon,” he told The Express Tribune.
Political Coordinator to K-P Chief Minister Zar Gul Khan said the federal government did not contact the provincial government in this regard.
“We heard from media reports that officials from provinces will be included in decisions regarding the power sector. Practically, any such move appears to be far from reality.
“K-P is faced with unprecedented power outages of up to 20 hours in different parts of the province. What adds insult to injury is that the electricity is generated at Tarbela in K-P, yet our province faces worst power outages.”
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Khan demanded of the prime minister to honour his commitments on load-shedding.
“If the prime minister has made the commitment to allay reservations of the provinces regarding load-shedding and include our officials in the relevant decision-making, he better match his words. Otherwise, the federal government led by the PML-N already has countless blunders to its credit that have attracted public outrage.”
PPP stalwart and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah said Sindh was being discriminated against.
“Minimum load-shedding is being done in provinces where the PML-N is in power while things are worse in other provinces, especially in Sindh, where load-shedding is on the rise.
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“What to talk about interior Sindh when cities like Karachi and Hyderabad are subjected to unending power outages. It’s high time the PML-N government demonstrated some sense of responsibility before things go out of control and head to public agitation.”
Shah said the centre has to provide Sindh its due share of more than 600 megawatts of power which it has denied.
In a statement issued earlier on Friday, the PTI also accused the centre of not providing K-P its due share of 650 MW of electricity.
In recent CCE meetings, the prime minister expressed his displeasure over the failure of water and power officials to control load-shedding and take adequate steps in this regard while also reprimanded them for concealing the figures of power shortfall that exceeds 7,000 MW during the peak summer season.
On the contrary, the government figures estimate the shortfall to be in the 2500-3000MW range.
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