ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Power was informed on Monday that there was no load-shedding at the Presidency, Prime Minister House, Supreme Court, GHQ, headquarters of ISI, National Accountability Bureau and National Database and Registration Authority and the Judges Colony.
This was revealed by the chief executive of Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) chief Yousuf Awan who was summoned by the Senate Committee to describe the reasons for load-shedding.
As temperatures across the country continue to rise over 40 degrees, the startling disclosure by the IESCO chief had drawn severe criticism from the Senate committee.
“I am utterly disgusted that a common man is facing up to 21 hours of load-shedding while the president, prime minister, generals and judges were facing no load-shedding even though they can afford to keep generators,” the committee’s chairman Senator Zahid Khan said in his remarks.
The Senate committee’s chairman said that exemption should only be afforded to hospitals and centres managing healthcare.
Meanwhile, he threatened to resign in case the practice was not interrupted and government offices and residences were not treated as the rest of the country.
Moreover, he directed the officials to bring an end to the discrimination within 24 hours and report back to the committee on their progress.
The committee also summoned the minister and secretary for water and power to explain why government offices and residences of government functionaries were not undergoing load-shedding as the rest of the country.
The country is facing a shortfall of over 4600 megawatts of power resulting in unprecedented load-shedding.
According to a spokesman of the Water and Power Ministry, power generation in the country is 12200 MW while demand is 16800 MW.
DND
