Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali on Sunday admitted to receiving complaints about electricity load-shedding during sehri and iftar. The minister said his entire team was working round the clock to address the complaints on an urgent basis. Ali was speaking to journalists after visiting the D-Type Colony Ramazan Bazaar.
He said the antiquated national grid was not equipped to handle over 15,000 megawatts of electricity while demand for power during peak hours hovered around 20,000 megawatts. “This discrepancy is causing power cuts during sehr and iftar,” Ali said. The minister said the government was trying to address the situation and would “overcome this challenge soon”.
Ali condemned the June 17 Model Town killing and expressed grief over the loss of lives. He alleged that certain political parties were trying to get political mileage from the incident.
The minister called Pervaiz Elahi and Sheikh Rasheed political orphans. “If the current democratic setup irks Elahi and Rasheed, they should simply tender their resignations and relax at home,” Ali said.
The minister said that Sheikh Rashid should resign if the current political system vexed him. “Why is Rashid roaming around with Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri?” Ali asked. He said that politicians like Rashid deserved to be in prison. “Terrorism and extremism are the twin gifts of Pervaiz Elahi and Sheikh Rashid to Pakistan.” Ali said.
He called the controversy over Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan’s alleged difference with other leaders of his party an internal affair of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The minister said the issue had been amicably resolved after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Khan.
Abid Sher Ali said the government had spent billions of rupees on subsidising merchandise at Ramazan Bazaars. The minister added that no other province offered such facility to the people.
The minister said that the other provincial governments should also follow the example of the PML-N government in the Punjab and give the public succour by extending similar facilities to them. He said that the government had established over 20 Ramazan Bazaars in Faisalabad district alone for the convenience of the public.
“The government has evolved a comprehensive strategy aimed at maintaining the standards of quality at the Ramazan Bazaars,” Ali said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2014.