Pakistan suffers from power crisis: without light meeting in PMO, the government released a plan to save Rs 6200 crore

Posted on 5th Jan 2023 by rohit kumar

The energy crisis has deepened in economically beleaguered Pakistan. Every section of the common people is troubled by this. To show how deep the crisis is, the government held a cabinet meeting a day in advance without even lighting the lights.

 

Along with this, the government has prepared a detailed plan for energy savings. The government says that by doing this, Rs 6,200 crore will be saved. According to media reports, Pakistan's Electricity Department had a debt of Rs 2 lakh 25 thousand crores till September 2021. Which has increased to Rs 2 lakh 43 thousand crores in the year 2022.

 

Government's plan to save electricity

 

The production of power-hungry fans will stop in July. This will help in saving about 2200 crores.

 

Wedding halls will be closed till 10 pm.

 

After February 1, only LED bulbs will be used.

 

The government has issued an order to save 30% of electricity in government departments.

 

The market will be allowed to open only till 8:30 pm.

 

Work from home will be implemented.

 

Conical geysers will be used.

 

The government's plan was rejected by the people

Due to the deepening of the power crisis, there is resentment from the common people toward the trade unions. Most traders have opposed the energy-saving scheme. The trade union in Islamabad has decided not to implement the scheme.

 

Trade union representative Noman Abbas told Bhaskar, “The poor are getting poorer and the business is already on the verge of collapse. I want to ask the Government of Pakistan, will they stop the planes and helicopters used in the rallies? Stopping them can also save billions of rupees. In Balochistan for 10-12 hours, people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also facing power cuts for 6 to 12 hours.

 

Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rejected the plan

According to Dawn's report, opposition to this plan to save electricity has started in Pakistan. The governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces there have refused to accept this plan. Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is in power in both provinces. That's why political reasons are believed to be behind not following the decision to save electricity.

 

What is the reason for the power crisis in Pakistan?

The main reason for the power crisis in Pakistan is economic distress. Electricity is generated through the oil in most of the power plants of Pakistan. The oil used in these power plants is imported from abroad.

 

After the Ukraine war, the price of oil has more than doubled worldwide. At present, the value of the Pakistani rupee has reached Rs 226.67 per dollar. In such a situation, the government wants to minimize the import of oil.

 

PM Shahwaz Sharif himself had said that there is not enough money in the coffers of the Government of Pakistan to buy oil and gas from other countries. According to the Bloomberg report, due to these reasons, the import of oil in Pakistan decreased by 50% in June 2022 as compared to August 2021.

 

Pakistan has been facing a power crisis for a long time.

The power crisis in Pakistan started only last year. In June also, the government had issued a notification. In which a plan was prepared to save electricity.

 

In this, the government said that till June 30, there will be a power cut of 3.5 hours every day in the country. After June 30, there was talk of reducing the power cut from 3.5 hours to 2 hours.

 

The Government of Pakistan had argued behind this that 22,000 MW of electricity is being produced in the country, while the requirement was 26,000 MW. In such a situation, there was a shortage of 4000 MW of electricity in Pakistan. In recent times, the power shortage in Pakistan had increased to 7800 MW.

 

Also Read: Pakistan Energy Crisis: Power crisis deepens in Pakistan, instructions to close markets soon