Power crisis: PML-N to back street protests
A day after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif accused the federal government of deliberate power cuts in the province, PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif has directed the party to support street protests.
The surge in prolonged loadshedding has disrupted life in many cities as load shedding has crossed 12 hours in Southern Punjab, Express 24/7 reported Monday.
The situation in rural areas is getting worse. Sukkur, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Nowshera Feroz and other districts in interior Sindh experienced unannounced load shedding.
Urban areas of Sindh are facing eight to ten hours of outages and rural areas twelve to fourteen.
Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) underwent a shortage of 700 megawatts of power, taking the loadshedding duration to nine hours, while Balochistan faced outages for 16 hours.
Peshawar witnessed 18 hours of power outages on contrary to the four-hour load shedding schedule provided to the city.
Protests staged against load shedding
Unannounced loadshedding for long durations has forced people to come out on the streets in several cities of Punjab.
Angry demonstrators ransacked a Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) office, and torched two cars, a pickup van and more than 25 motorbikes.
The police tried to stop the demonstrators, but the mob retaliated and attacked a police checkpoint the Aalam chowk area of the city.
Police used teargas to disperse stone-throwing protestors after a clash in the same area. Four police constables were also injured during the protests in Gujranwala.
Trade organisations were on strike and angry protestors forced shops and businesses on GT Road to shut down.
Cases were registered against more than 1,000 protestors and dozens were arrested in Lahore on account of massive protests against power outages in the city.
Four hundred and fifty protestors were charged while 53 were arrested by the Baghbanpura police.
Chuhng police station has registered cases against 1,000 protestors and arrested 25 people.
The charges also include those under the anti-terrorism act.
The protests were held at the Mahmood Booti area on Ring Road, Chuhng and near Data Darbar.
Protests were also staged in other cities.
A shutterdown strike by the business and trade association of Faisalabad is underway as a part of the protest, whereas, students staged a sit-in protest for three hours in Gujrat.
Protesters involved in spreading violence sent to jail
More than 100 people allegedly involved in violence during the protest against loadshedding in Lahore were sent to jail on Monday.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Hashmat Kamal told Express News that a case has been registered against the people who set two police vans on fire on Sunday.
Meanwhile, another case was registered against those involved in setting a bus on fire.
The arrested people also include the protesters who attacked a police station in Chuhng.
PEPCO circular debt increases
A report sent to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani revealed that the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) is facing a loss of around Rs42.3 million every hour due to electricity theft and non-payment of dues.
According to sources, Pepco’s circular debt is increasing by Rs30.5 billion every month and has reached a total amount of Rs447 billion.
Out of the said amount, Rs110 billion have to be paid to Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), which provides over 6,000 megawatts of electricity at the rate of Rs1.1 per unit.
Power supply companies in Azad Kashmir, Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Karachi owe Rs225 billion to Pepco.
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@Falcon: The PHd scientist of PTI, whose name is not mentioned, is an esset to Imran Khan. I recommend him come to Pakistan and make Thar coal workable in 60 days insted of waiting for his party to be in power, which is not likely in a decade time. He should in fact come now and help the poor country with his magic touch in 60 day by this the probbably will win some votes for the Captain in the coming election. If Imran Khan has some concern for the powerless people of this country he should immidietlly call him and put him on work. Best of luck to IK.
During second tenure of Benazir Bhutto, the government aggressively pursued policy of setting-up energy projects. Nawaz Sharif strongly criticised and scandalised the policy. When he came to power in 1997, he completely ignored energy sector. Musharraf did the same during his power. We were being constantly told by Nawaz & Musharraf that Pakistan had surplus electricity and projects approved and set-up during Benazir's second tenure were for the sake of commissions. Just imagine, if those projects had not been set-up, where would we be standing today? Present mess is the direct result of PPP-bashing by Nawaz & Musharraf. They have misled public to such an extent that whatever the present government tries to do for the better, it is scandalised. Media is also tilted in one direction. Otherwise, if they start paying attention to mega-corruption of Sharifs, they will find a much higher level of corruption.
@Mannaman Interestingly enough, I heard interview of a PTI scientist (yes you heard that right, the guy has pHD in metallurgy and was one of the scientists once working with Pentium as well). He mentioned that one of the key hurdles to long-term power solution is lack of oversight and guidance for scientists who are working on Thar coal project. Those scientists though sincere are trying to bet on a technology that has not been commercialized yet. This creates a significant challenge from implementation standpoint since we will be the first ones to conduct that experiment in the world and that can take too long of a time. He had alternate idea on how the issue could be resolved within the constraints at work and he has recently presented his research here in US on the issue. He plans to kick-off the project within 60 days of PTI coming into power.
Yeah righ! protest against load shedding and burn a few power offices/ power stations to the ground. This should go a long way in decreasing load shedding
@John B:
Hahaha! Factories?? Thousands of such have closed since the country's power-crisis started 5-6 years ago. Pakistan will take decades to recover economically from years and years of ineptitude to provide real solutions to this crisis.
We have a really stupid energy mix for a country that is so dependent on importing oil.
@Mannaman, Its not about producing Bio-GAS. Don't you wonder how the government is able to pull off a 72 hours uninterrupted supply during the Eid Days for the whole country? What is more interesting is that a day before and a day after the Eid Holidays, the situation returns back to 'normal'. The current power production facilities, if run on full-scale, can produce more than enough energy for the entire country but that requires Government Policies that ensure that the IPPs and PSO are paid on time and commission-free.
@Obaid: Can Imran Khan produce enough Bio-GAS to generate 10,000 Mega watts of extra electricity and please the entire nation ?
This is the WORST form of Loadshedding i've ever seen in My life! I live in a Rawalpindi & today i only had 2:45 hours of LIGHT. YES LIGHT is what i said. 6 consecutive hours of loadshedding then 2:45 hours of light then again 5 hours of loadshedding & now am here just to let others know!
Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif are themselves cowards... They are just cashing in on the situation... Why didn't they plan for electricity in long term when they were in power almost a decade ago, as power generation comes under long-term planning... Please people use these protest not only to convert it into a revolution but also to get rid of these corrupt and inept faces like Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Zardari... Down with PML-N, PPP and PML-Q... Everybody please get united under the banner of PTI and IMRAN KHAN.. No more old faces..
strategic depth is more important than electricity. Pakistani awam should be patient until the end of the Great Game.
@ Naveed Javed Its a good idea but bro all crooks are united against u and me and becarefull from most fare agen...
Whatever the situations is Politics politics and politics BUT no solution
Who is sabotaging Pakistan. They have electricity but they do not generate enough for public.Nawazs power supply never goes off. Gilani and his family enjoy 24 hrs air conditioning. Responsible for all this is Pakistan peoples party. Get red of these so called political parties
Lets protest against Social Injustice!!
Let us all stand up and tell the Government ENOUGH is ENOUGH.
We have not forgotten the special power line to power Nawaz Sharif's residence in Lahore. It makes sure his house is never out of power. Therefore, N League needs to cut the crap about understanding the misery of poor public with regards to load shedding.
Don't worry, Haqqani's will bring power when they come to power.
How is joining the street protests going to help reduce loadshedding? If only we could harness all the hot air that is blown by oppourtunist politicans.
Wow. This much level of power cut will only exacerbate further oil and gas import and consumption from increased usage of individual generators.
How do the factories manage their power requirements? Certainly they can not be operating at high efficiency.
These pretests needs to grow rapidly, to force these leaders to draw a comprehensive plan for overcoming this power crisis.