From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Markets across Sindh will shut down at 9pm in order to save electricity, a notification from the province’s home department said Friday, as the country witnesses constant power outages.
The measure, which will remain in effect till July 16, is in response to the prevalent outages, and load shedding of the electricity and seeks to reduce the shortfall between the supply and demand of electricity, according to the notification.
It was decided that the morning hours must be utilized for business activities, said the notification. The new rule was set to go into effect at 5pm Friday.
All markets and shopping malls shall close by 9pm, the notification said, adding that this does not extend to medical stores, pharmacies, hospitals, petrol pumps, CNG stations, bakeries and milk shops. Furthermore, marriage halls must shut down by 10:30pm and eateries by 11pm. The development comes week after the National Economic Council (NEC) had decided to order the closure of markets across the country at 8:30pm in bid to save electricity amid Electric Power crisis.
The NEC took the decision on June 08 during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Chief Ministers of all Provinces attended the meeting, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was represented by its chief secretary, Dr Shehzad Khan.
The NEC met a day after President Ari Alvi approved the reconstitution of the body with Prime Minister Shehbaz as the chairman.
According to a statement issued in this regard, the chief ministers appreciated the steps taken by the federal government to deal with the energy crisis and the four provinces agreed on the proposal of markets’ closure at 8.30pm.
The statement added that chief ministers of Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan have sought two days’ time to hold consultations with the traders’ association in their provinces — but all the four provinces have agreed with the move in principle.
The chief ministers also backed the decisions of the federal cabinet on nationwide measures to deal with the energy crisis and assured their full cooperation in tackling it.
