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Power shortfall crosses 5,000MW ahead of Ramazan

By our correspondents
May 27, 2017

LAHORE

With shooting up of mercury level, the overall power shortfall has increased significantly ahead of Ramazan and so does the daily outages.

The deficit in demand and electricity crossed 5,000MW on Friday afternoon, resulting in prolonged outages in cities, particularly in rural areas. There are also complaints of unannounced loadshedding from various parts of the city. Last two days were very difficult for the masses as far as intensity of outages is concerned. Over 6-8 hours of outages are being observed in cities and district headquarters while 12-18 hours of loadshedding is being done in rural areas.

Similarly, much to the dismay of the customers, the menace of planned shutdowns, spanning over 7-8 hours in a row also haunted them. According to an estimate, there have been daily shutdowns of power supply to 80-100 feeders in city alone on the pretext of system augmentation and routine repair and maintenance.

Demand of electricity was over 22,500mw while electricity generation faltered at 17,400mw, showing shortfall of 5,100mw. In the evening, the shortfall was reduced comparatively and was around 4,000mw. According to a spokesman for Ministry of Water & Power, demand of electricity at 8pm on Friday was recorded at 20,963mw against the generation of 17,002 mw, indicating shortfall of 3,961mw. As per breakdown of power generation, 5,701mw of electricity was being produced from Hydel, 2,672mw from public sector generation companies while Independent Power Producers were contributing 8,629mw.

The spokesman claimed that there was no unscheduled loadshedding in any part of the country, saying outages are being carried out as per the load management plan.

schemes:  The Punjab government Friday approved 10 development schemes of various sectors at an estimated cost of Rs. 29322.431 million.

The schemes were approved in the 72nd meeting of Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) of current fiscal year 2016-17 presided over the Chairman P&D Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan.

Provincial Secretary P&D Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, All Members of the Planning & Development Board, Provincial Secretaries concerned and other senior representatives of the relevant Provincial Departments also attended the meeting. The approved development schemes included: Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project at a cost of Rs. 5775.000 million, Development of Greater Iqbal Park, Lahore (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 3403.242 million, New Link Connecting Lahore-Multan Motorway with Multan Road, Lahore (from Defence Road to Sharqpur-Jaranwala Road) Package-I at a cost of Rs. 7911.483 million, New Link Connecting Lahore-Multan Motorway with Multan Road, Lahore (from Sharqpur-Jaranwala Road to Karachi-Lahore Motorway) Package-II at a cost of Rs. 2320.593 million, Extension Service 2.0- Farmer Facilitation through Modernized Extension (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 4277.126 million, Establishment of Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan (Phase-II) (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 1511.857 million, Construction of District Headquarter Hospital, M.B. Din (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 1156.496 million, Up Gradation of DHQ Hospital Narowal (from 125 Beds to 300 Beds) (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 468.487 million, Checking Erosion from RD 458 to 465 Extension Minchin Flood Bund in Dallas Canal Division R.Y. Khan at a cost of Rs. 143.260 million and Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project (Allied Works & Support Services) (Revised) at a cost of Rs. 2354.887 million.

balloting: The Primary and Secondary Health Department Punjab has carried out first electronic balloting for Haj medical mission, 2017.

According to a handout on Friday, Provincial Minister Health Khawaja Imran Nazir, who was the chief guest, pressed the button for balloting. Talking to the media after inauguration, Kh. Imran Nazir said that government sent medical missions to “Hijaz-e-Muqadass” to provide medical cover to pilgrims every year. The minister said that applications were invited for 152 positions of different categories from both Specialised Healthcare and Primary and Secondary Health Departments.

Imran Nazir said that first time balloting through a software electronic system had been carried out to ensure merit and transparency. He said that 152 categories including specialists, medical officers, women medical officers, nurses and paramedics a part of the medical mission.