SIALKOT
Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that the operation against power pilferers will continue in the Punjab and be expanded to other provinces to end electricity theft, adding that the provincial governments have already been taken into confidence in this regard.
Talking to local MNAs, MPAs, traders, industrialists and exporters in his residence at Sialkot Cantt, he said that the operation against electricity theft will continue in Punjab till getting its full results. The federal minister claimed that the PML-N government’s effective anti-load shedding strategy was meeting with success. He added that the government was committed to giving maximum relief to the people, saying that the persisting energy crisis would soon become relic of the past.
He narrated that the government was making an all-out effort to overcome energy crisis and it had also developed an effective mechanism to overcome the menace across the country by taking the provinces into confidence over this crucial issue. The theft of electricity would not be tolerated and people indulged in this practice would be dealt with sternly, he warned. The theft of electricity and gas was creating serious problems for unprivileged segment of society which is unjust, he added, saying that theft of electricity was a serious crime.
“The PML-N government is making hectic efforts to overcome energy crisis. The government has taken the burning issue as a challenge and is moving towards right direction and the goal of getting rid of unbearable loadshedding of electricity. The government is making adequate efforts to bring the country out of energy crisis and Pakistan will be made loadshedding-free country within the next three years,” he said. 
The federal minister urged the masses to give up unnecessary use of electricity and lend a sharing hand of cooperation to the government for ending loadshedding. He asked the people to cooperate with the government and refrain from damaging national property during demonstration as the protection of national property is a moral duty of everyone.
Talking to the newsmen, Khawaja Asif said that after completion, the Nandipur power generation plant would produce 400 megawatts electricity under the supervision of Chinese experts. He said that work on the power plant was briskly underway. He added that the present government had increased supply of 3500-4000 MW to the national grid. He hoped that the situation would significantly improve in the power sector over the next three years. He said that the PML-N government has managed to reduce the duration of loadshedding to facilitate the people across the country.
He stated that getting rid of the existing worst energy crisis was not an easy task, as the crisis had grown up by the former rulers in years and now also years were required to overcome the menace which had perturbed the life of everyone and ruined the national economy. He said that it will take time to end the persisting energy crisis despite the PML-N government had started work on emergency grounds to give maximum relief to the people.
Addressing the participants of an Iftar dinner hosted in his honour at Government Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, the federal minister said that the government was striving to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to  all the domestic consumers during Eid days across the country.
Khawaja Asif inaugurated Shahbaz Block for the students of the college and vowed to make Pakistan load-shedding free country within three years. He revealed that the PML-N government was making hectic efforts to overcome energy crisis. Asif said that only the PML-N has the capability to rid the nation of prolonged and unbearable energy crisis. He claimed that the PML-N government has achieved all the targets set for till now to  overcome the menace.
He claimed that the government’s anti-power loadshedding strategy was meeting with success and it was committed to giving maximum relief to the people.