Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said on Wednesday that the episode of K-Electric’s oppression unleashed on Karachi’s people is drawing out.
Addressing a delegation of citizens at his residence, Shah said the power situation in Karachi has not changed despite announcements made to the contrary by federal ministers during their visit to the city. The delegation had called on him to register their protest against their electricity woes.
The minister said that the country’s ruling elite are not at all aware of the fact that when the sole breadwinner of a poor family reaches home, he finds the ceiling fan stationary and cannot even rest after a day-long struggle for earning a livelihood.
Shah said that only KE and its supporters are responsible for the continuing miseries of the poor families that have been enduring the deteriorating power supply situation. He said that the Sindh government has exhausted every forum available to highlight the electricity issue of Karachi, but from the federal administration the people of the city have received nothing but false promises and an indifferent attitude.
He also said that the provincial government stands with the city’s people in their struggle against the problems facing them, lamenting that the federal administration’s unsupportive stance persists, which is why, he added, the people have to endure prolonged and frequent load-shedding.
“The Sindh government has always been on the side of the people of the province, and it will continue to struggle for the sake of the masses.”
‘No bearing’
In a statement issued on Saturday, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh had claimed that federal minister Asad Umar’s announcement would have no bearing on the persisting power crisis in the city.
Sheikh said federal ministers have been making such announcements about the lingering electricity crisis for the past several days. He said the ministers are engaged in a failed attempt to salvage KE. He also said the Centre has done Karachi no favour by increasing the power company’s gas supply.
He pointed out that up to 190 mmcfd had already been available to the power utility. He also pointed out that load-shedding had increased in Karachi because of a shortage of furnace oil supply to the power company.
Sheikh said the people of Karachi are made to suffer continuously due to constant bickering among different agencies and institutions. He added sarcastically that PTI’s lawmakers had held their sit-in to register their protest against the ill-advised polices of the PM and his cabinet.
He said the city’s people had been completely indifferent to the PTI’s sit-in against KE, adding that the people were not the least bit bothered whether the protest continued or came to an end.
The minister said that the duration of announced and unannounced load-shedding had lately been increased to 16 hours a day. He said the Centre should now inform everyone what the duration of announced load-shedding would be.
He also said the gas supply to industries and CNG stations in Karachi had been curtailed after the announcement that gas supply to industries was being increased. He added that shutting down industries and CNG stations would further aggravate the issue of mass unemployment in the country.
Sheikh said that instead of admitting that they had failed to overcome the power crisis in Karachi, the relevant federal ministers had been subjecting the masses to further economic miseries.