Kaira cries for uniform loadshedding hours

ISLAMABAD - In the ministerial committee on energy crisis meeting, Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told his fellow ministers that some enraged people had tried to cut the electricity connection of his house in Lalamusa. The committee, which met Wednesday night at the Ministry of Finance to ponder over ways of tackling the challenge of ongoing power crisis in the country on war footings, was attended by Federal Ministers Qamar Zaman Kaira, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Shaukat Tarin, Hina Rabbani Khar, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Khurshid Shah, Dr Babar Awan, Syed Naveed Qamar and Advisor to PM on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain. According to reliable sources, Federal Information Minister, speaking in Punjabi, severely criticised the Ministry of Water and Power high-ups for discriminatory policy of loadshedding saying that in some cities there was only 4-hour load-shedding while in many other towns 16 hours long power outages were taking place. He remarked that the said approach of PEPCO would bring the people on streets. He also narrated a story of his hometown where according to him some furious people had approached his house to cut electricity connection, said the sources. According to the sources, Kaira told his fellows that the people were saying that if they had no electricity then the house of a minister would also be deprived of the facility. The sources said that Kairas anger prompted Shaukat Tarin to ask the Ministry of Water and Power to adopt uniform load-shedding schedule across the country. The Finance Minister was saying that the load-shedding in the houses of the President and Prime Minister be observed in the same manner as it was being conducted in the home of any ordinary citizen, said the sources. The reliable sources told TheNation that Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo was unhappy over being the member of the committee, as he did not want to share the responsibility of power crisis. Federal Minister for Industries & Production said to the committee members that he still was being haunted by the fertilizer scam and was made a member of the committee which was responsible for ending power outages in the country, said the sources. As per sources, Wattoo had concerns that if the special cabinet committee failed to resolve energy crisis swiftly, he would have to face another episode of peoples wrath. In the said special cabinet committee meeting, high-ups of the Ministry of Water and Power, PEPCO, WAPDA, KESC and others had participated and replied to the harsh questions of the committee members. It is pertinent to mention here that a few days earlier protestors had hurled bottles at Qamar Zaman Kaira in his constituency when he had tried to assuage a angry mob demonstrating against unscheduled loadshedding in Lalamusa.