PPP blames Centre for Karachi’s power woes

Ministers lambast federal govt’s furnace oil import ban

KARACHI:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) provincial ministers held the Centre responsible for the electricity crisis in Karachi on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said that the Sindh government, after discussions about the electricity shortage with K-Electric (KE), the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HUBCO) and Sukkur Electric Power Company, had reached the conclusion that the crisis was a consequence of "the federal government's inefficiency."

"The Centre is responsible for the electricity crisis as it imposed a ban on the import of furnace oil starting March 26, which brought electricity generation at plants using furnace oil as fuel to a halt," alleged Shaikh. "As a result, Karachi is now experiencing load-shedding for up to 12 hours while the duration of electricity suspension in other parts of Sindh has peaked to 18 hours."

According to Shaikh, HUBCO started supplying furnace oil to KE on Saturday night, following which load-shedding was reduced in Karachi Sunday onwards.

Meanwhile, power utilities, too, have provided assurances of increasing their production capacity, he said.

Long hours of load-shedding hit Karachi this week, even in areas earlier declared exempted from electricity suspension, with durations peaking to 15 hours. Besides, power outages at pumping stations have also given rise to a water shortage in the city.

Irked by the situation, amid hot weather and a pandemic, citizens have taken to the streets, staging protests against KE and demanding the restoration of electricity supply.

Meanwhile, KE maintained the shortfall was a result of gas and furnace oil shortage. The Sui Southern Gas Company, however, claimed to have increased the supply of gas to the utility and various sources claim that the crisis has been artificially created by the utility to get grants and allowances from the government.

Defending the budget

Responding to criticism of Sindh's budget for 2020-21, Shah, while admitting the budget was "not ideal" given the ongoing pandemic, maintained that it was better than the one presented by the federal government.

Outlining budget provisions to prove his point, he said that the health sector had been prioritised, billions had been reserved for social welfare programmes and funds were allocated for loans to those affected by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.

"No doubt a large chunk has been set aside for health but considerable sums have also been reserved for addressing farmers' issues, small-scale businessmen and other segments," he added.

'MQM-P staging publicity stunt'

In the same vein, Ghani dubbed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) protest against the new provincial budget "nothing more than a publicity stunt."

The MQM-P claimed that the budget deprived Karachi and other urban areas of Sindh of their rightful share. While ending its demonstration outside the Sindh Assembly on Saturday, it had announced wider protests in the coming days.

In response to MQM-P's allegations, Ghani said that billions were allocated to improve the infrastructure and water and sanitation system in Karachi, adding that MQM-P, which had parted ways with its founder, should dissociate itself from his mindset as well.

Shaikh, too, criticised the MQM-P, remarking that its protest outside the Sindh Assembly made no sense. "If they really feel for the citizens of Karachi, they need to explain what they have demanded for the city from the federal government," he said. "They need to ask the Centre what happened to the Rs162 billion Karachi package announced by the prime minister."