Electricity load-shedding Sindh’s punishment for not voting for PTI, claims Imtiaz Sheikh

Sindh’s energy minister has claimed that the province’s residents are being systematically penalised with daily electricity load-shedding of up to 18 hours because they did not vote for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the 2018 general elections.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh lamented that daily power load-shedding of up to 12 hours has become a norm in Karachi and has been making the lives of the city’s people miserable.

Shaikh said that the three power distribution companies of the province — the K-Electric (KE), the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) — have completely failed in carrying out their responsibilities as regards providing uninterrupted supply of electricity to the people.

He claimed that the federal government is least interested in resolving the electricity issues of the province. He said the Sindh government will provide complete support to the bereaved families for lodging FIRs of electrocution incidents.

He also said that Sindh accounts for majority of the natural gas produced in the country, lamenting that the province still faces an acute shortfall of the commodity.

The provincial minister said that he had written several letters to the chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) as well as the federal energy minister seeking their direct intervention in resolving the power-related issues of the province but to no avail.

Shaikh said the federal energy minister never bothers meeting the relevant Sindh authorities during his visits to Karachi to discuss the electricity problems of the province, adding that he always leaves the city after attending meetings at the Governor House.

He said that being the relevant federal authorities, the Energy Division and Nepra should take cognisance of the power-related woes of the people of the province and take correctives measures on an immediate basis.

He also said the Sindh government of the Pakistan Peoples Party takes full ownership of Karachi and will take whatever steps are required for the development of the city. He remarked that Article 58(2)(b) of the constitution has fortunately become invalid, otherwise President Arif Alvi would have used it against the PTI’s federal government for their poor governance during the past two years.