The District Load Management Committee has decided to close down all industrial units in the district from May 10 to May 12 to provide uninterrupted supply to the rest of the district.
District Coordination Officer Najam Ahmed Shah presided over a meeting with industrialist in this regard on Tuesday.
It was decided that the industrial units would voluntarily close from 2pm on Friday to 6am on Sunday. This, the meeting participants agreed, would help the district administration to supply uninterrupted power supply to polling stations.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Operation) Gohar Nafees, District Officer (Industries) Shahbaz Khan, District Officer (Labour) Nusrat Kamal, District Officer (Coordination) Akram Bhatti, FESCO General Manager (Operations) Ghazanfar Baloch, Anjuman-i-Tajran president Khwaja Razzaq Sikka, Sizing Industries Association Chairman Shakeel Ansari and chairman of Council of Power Looms Owners Waheed Khaliq Ramay attended the meeting. Some labour association leaders were also present.
DCO Shah said that holding general elections amidst the prevalent energy crisis was a challenging task. He said reliable electricity supply on polling days was essential for facilitating the people and the polling staff.
Calling it a national cause, the DCO sought cooperation from the factory owners. “This can only be possible if the industries volunteer to close down for at least three days,” he added.
He said it was important to seek consent of the industry representatives before taking such a decision to avoid any unpleasantness.
Factory owners and labour leaders gave the DCO a green signal, but expressed their concerns over the on-going unscheduled load-shedding.
They also expressed their concern over re-designation of some feeders supplying electricity to residential areas as industrial feeders. The Fesco GM assured them he would investigate the matter.
The DCO also asked Fesco officers to look into the complaints of the industries and workers.
The DCO announced to set up modern control room at his office for monitoring election arrangements and the law and order situation in the district.
He said he would supervise the control room.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2013.