Power woes in Larkana: Sindh minister takes notice of excessive outages

Accuses SEPCO, power ministry of hiding incompetence by victimising consumers.

KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has taken serious notice of excessive load-shedding in Larkana division, particularly Naudero, over the last several days and said that “if this situation is not addressed immediately, the Government of Sindh will intervene to protect the rights of the people of Sindh.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Shah said power outages caused by the ‘inefficiency and incompetence’ of Sepco is creating misery for the people and causing economic losses.

“People have taken to the streets as a mark of protest against the federal government and Sepco. In addition to the already prevailing crisis, Sepco is discouraging power plants working under the new captive power generation policy,” he said.

The minister said that Sepco, by blaming low recovery from Naudero area for increased load-shedding, is admitting mismanagement on its part and in the way power distribution companies are being micromanaged by the Ministry of Water and Power. He said Sepco and the power ministry were covering up their inefficiency by victimising people of the area “while power theft, with the connivance of Sepco officials, continues unabated.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2015.