CM Sindh terms load-shedding ‘revenge from people of Karachi’

KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh, Murad Ali Shah on Thursday lashed out at the federal government over prolonged and unannounced power outages in Karachi.

Liaquatabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar, Malir, Safoora Goth, North Karachi, FB Area and other areas of Karachi are experiencing unannounced load-shedding for several hours a day.

“Load-shedding is a form of revenge from the people of Karachi,” Shah said during a news conference at the Sindh Assembly.

“I wrote two letters to the premier and spoke to him over the phone six times but the federal government does not care,” he added.

Stating that the court has said Karachi’s main power supplier, K-Electric, will get gas from Sui Southern Gas Company Limited, Shah said, “We are told to take LNG, but why should we take it? The first right of the people of Sindh is on gas.”

Lamenting the increase in the frequency of power outages across Sindh, the provincial chief minister said, “Their enmity is with the people of Karachi.”

“There’s also a water crisis in the city due to load-shedding,” he added. However, Shah assured that the water crisis will be resolved once work is completed on two water projects initiated in the metropolis.

Meanwhile, NEPRA officials appearing before a standing committee termed K-Electric responsible for the power crisis in the city. NEPRA officials stressed that K-Electric should be provided gas and at the same time, an investigation should be carried out against it.

According to the officials, a K-Electric power plant capable of generating 180 megawatts had been shut for the last five months, adding that it all plants were operational 2,900 megawatts could be generated.

‘Why was Sharjeel Memon placed on ECL if Nawaz wasn’t’

The chief minister also expressed reservations over raids conducted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“NAB calls for placing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) but the federal government refuses to. However, Sharjeel Memon was placed on the ECL despite being abroad,” Shah said while addressing the media outside Sindh Assembly on Thursday.

Earlier today, secretary and minister of the Sindh local government met with the province's chief minister to discuss a raid conducted by NAB a day earlier at their offices.

Ramzan Awan, the local government secretary, and Jam Khan Shoro, the local government minister, met the Sindh CM and informed him of the recent surprise NAB-led raid carried out at the local government offices, according to sources.

Shah advised Rizwan Memon, Chief Secretary for Sindh, to gather details on the said raid, and report back in this regard, the sources added.