Minister for exempting ‘outage-hit districts’ from further load-shedding

KARACHI: Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh on Saturday urged the federal government to exempt the districts from any further load-shedding, which were hit by a four-day power outage during the Eidul Azha days.

While talking to media, he said he apologizes with the people of districts of Larkana, Dadu, Shahdadkot and Qamber and other areas for the inconvenience caused to them due to the power outage.

The energy minister said that nine poles of the high transmission line fell down due to severe storm during the Eid days due to which electricity was cut off in these areas.

Imtiaz Shaikh said that SEPCO employees were on Eid holidays due to which the transmission line repair work was delayed.

He said that the HESCO and SEPCO are federal institutions that do not come under the direct jurisdiction of the province.

The Sindh Energy Minister demanded from the federal government that SEPCO exempts all these districts from load shedding for the next three days.

However, former President Asif Ali Zardari, while taking notice of the four-day power outage in several areas including Larkana, Dadu, Shahdadkot and Qamber, had directed the provincial energy minister to immediately restore electricity to all the affected districts.

Subsequently, the energy minister immediately reached Garhi Yasin, inspected the work, himself, set up a camp until the work was completed and called all the officers including the CEO of SEPCO immediately to the affected area.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023