By Ali Asghar Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Monday directed the authorities concerned to take ‘immediate action’ against defaulters and power thieves as the government deals with protests against inflated electricity bills.
“No concession should be given to defaulters and power thieves in the operation,” the care-taker PM said while chairing a meeting summoned for detailed briefing over power sector in Islamabad.
During the meeting, the caretaker PM was briefed over overall electricity generating poten-tial, installed capacity, actual generation and power distribution in different weathers.
During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed in detail about all sections of the energy sector. The meeting was informed about the total installed capacity, actual generation and overall energy supply during various seasons.
The caretaker PM was also informed about the energy mix in the power production.
PM Kakar stressed that in future, the renewable and hydel sources of energy should be giv-en top priority to produce cheap and green energy in the country.
He also directed to take effective measures to reduce the line losses of the power distribution companies. “A comprehensive plan should also be prepared and presented to implement the transformer metering project.”
He said projects of small hydel power projects should be planned under the guidance of rel-evant experts.
Such projects will not only generate low-cost electricity but also help in reducing the harmful effects of climate change, he said adding that local coal should be preferred instead of expen-sive imported coal in coal power generation projects.
The prime minister also directed to immediately start work on the construction of 2400 MW solar power projects while ensuring transparency in the entire process.
The government, he said would take all possible steps to reduce the circular debt of the pow-er sector.
The meeting was also informed about the progress on the establishment of the electricity en-ergy market in the country.It was informed in the meeting that with the establishment of en-ergy market in the country, the performance and capacity of the power sector would be ef-fectively increase that would help 27 million domestic consumers.
It was also told that most of the work by the power division have already been completed in this regard.
The inflated power bills triggered country-wide protests from Karachi to Khyber and pro-tests in some parts of the country are turning violent.
The protesting masses have been demanding that the government should end the provision of free electricity to the notables and provide them relief as the bills they have been receiving are more than their salaries.
