Power cuts in Karachi to ‘end in two years’

Energy minister blames previous govts for city’s electricity woes

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub on Thursday said it would take the federal government two more years to find a permanent solution to the prolonged, unannounced power cuts in Karachi.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the minister blamed the governments of the PPP and PML-N for the power crisis in the country’s financial hub. They [the PPP and PML-N governments] did not improve the generation capacity and distribution and transmission system in Karachi,” he added.

Ayub said the opposition parties would see the PTI government’s “solid performance”, to which the lawmakers on the other side of isle burst into laughter while the minister continued his speech.

Despite the laughter, the lawmakers were troubled by the minister’s revelation that it would take two years to end power outages in Karachi.

They had drawn the minister’s attention to K-Electric (KE) suspending electricity supply to the city’s residents for up to 12 hours and the failure of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to take prompt action against the utility.

In response to the timeframe given by the minister, PPP’s Shamim Ara Panhwar told him to resign and let her party sort out the issue in just six months.

The PPP lawmaker reminded the treasury members that KE and Nepra were under the federal government’s control and Ayub could not shift the blame on previous governments.

She clarified the matter because Ayub had repeatedly said KE was confined to Karachi and PPP was in power in the province.

“The PPP has left all these issues for us,” Ayub said, adding tha the PTI government would deliver what PPP could not in 10 years.

On overcoming Karachi’s electricity problem in six months, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar quipped that the PPP’s claim was tantamount to saying that there never were power outages in the city before the PTI government.

Recalling an incident of power outage during former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s era, Umar said there was no electricity in Karachi the entire night and he found out in the morning that there had been a coup and General Ziaul Haq had taken over.

“There has been load shedding in Pakistan for 45 years,” he added.

The planning and development minister said the opposition had termed the KE a “criminal outfit” and was creating an impression as if power utility had been privatised by the PTI government.

“KE was privatised during the time of the PML-Q government and then the PPP and the PML-N each remained in power for five years,” he added.

“Why did the two parties allow such a ‘corrupt outfit’ to operate and not take action during their tenures?”

Revealing the reason behind the increase in power cuts in the metropolis, Umar said Karachi’s electricity needs kept increasing over time but the previous governments did not take any step to either increase electricity production or to create a system to import it from somewhere.

He promised that the federal government would improve the situation in “record time”.

After the two ministers finished their speeches, PPP leader and former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf quipped that he had not completely understood the meaning of the phrase “Sawal Gandum, Jawab Chana” (a response irrelevant to a query mean to dodge the actual issue].

“Their [PTI government] answer to every question is that the previous governments are to blame,” Ashraf said, adding that the blame game could continue for four or six months after coming to power but not after two years.

“If you will keep on repeating the PPP and the PML-N to every query, there’s no point in asking any questions.”

Referring to PTI lawmaker Aslam Khan, who allegedly used inappropriate words for PPP female lawmakers, Ashraf said sometimes the members of the ruling party felt so offended and angry that they forget how to respect women.

“This is very wrong and has to stop,” Ashraf said, “we are not sitting in a bazaar.”

Commenting on the JIT report of Uzair Baloch delivered to Shipping and Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi by an unknown motorcyclist, the PPP leader said parliament should not be used for levelling allegations on the basis of shady documents obtained in this manner.

“Someone can leave an envelope at our houses as well,” he said while addressing the deputy speaker. “Will you allow us to read the contents of such documents in the House?” he added.

“It seems that PTI lawmakers deliberately want to embarrass their prime minister. They were destroying the assembly’s norms due to their inexperience and ignorance.”

Ashraf criticised Umar for giving an examples that was decades old.

“They don’t have answers to any specific question,” he said, reminded that the entire board of KE fell under the federal government’s control.

“Nepra and the energy ministry are also under the federal government and have no members from Sindh.”

After a few more speeches, Federal Communications and Postal Services Minister Murad Saeed took the floor and started reading the confessional statement of Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch, compelling the opposition to stage a walkout from the House.

Reading out the statement, Saeed said Uzair had confessed to his involvement police encounters, kidnappings and attacks on police stations but no one was talking about the content of the report and the confessional statement.

When Saeed claimed that the extortion money collected by Uzair went to former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur, the PPP members started protesting. While leaving the assembly, PPP’s Shazia Soomro threw a pair of headphones at Saeed but missed the target.

Before boycotting the session and walking out of the assembly, the PPP members pointed out the quorum, which was found to be incomplete on counting. The session was subsequently adjourned till Friday.