No furnace oil import from next year, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Monday that from next year, there will be no furnace oil import, as already renewable energy made up for 40 per cent of total power generation. Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan said this during the discussion in the House on a deferred motion moved by Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini of the BNP-Mengal.

The minister played down the concerns raised by Senator Jamaldini and some other lawmakers that the use of coal in power plants would be a huge threat to environment and life. He pointed out that the best possible super critical technology was being used at the coal-power plants to deal with pollution. He added that coal-based power generation in US was over 30 per cent in China 60 per cent and in India 40 per cent whereas it was just 0.8 per cent in Pakistan.

However, the minister insisted that there was a lot of responsibility on the provinces and other ministries to do the needful with regard to coal-power plant-related matters. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that no project was being executed without first having environmental impact study, emphasising coal would be used under safe technology.

He justified the use of coal and said that coal deposits in Pakistan were enough for over 400 years. He made it clear that no coal power plant under CPEC was being set up, which would be a threat to environment. Senators Dr Jamaldini and Mohsin Leghari feared that coal-power plants would pose a threat to environment as already China was shifting its plants to other countries. They also said that considerable quantity of water would be needed to cooling the towers. They called for focusing on wind and other options for power generation.

It was a private members day that a bill, introduced by PPP Senator Karim Khawaja, was referred to the House committee concerned, regarding amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890, which, he said, was amended thrice by the Britishers but never by Pakistan. The amendments mainly suggest multiple increase in fines for those involved in unleashing any kind of cruelty on animals.