Zardari takes notice of power outages, a little too late

An emergency meeting on the prevalent power shortage and energy crisis in the country was held late on Thursday at the Presidency, with President Asif Ali Zardari taking to task Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar for failing to resolve the seemingly uncontrollable issue. Others present in the meeting were Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, federal secretaries for Water & Power, finance and petroleum ministries, PEPCO MD Rasool Khan Mehsood, SNGPL MD Arif Hameed, SSGCL MD Azeem Iqbal Siddiqui and former APTMA Chairman Gohar Ejaz. At the start of the meeting, the president expressed displeasure over the increasing incidents of unscheduled load shedding in various parts of the country that was resulting in great inconvenience to the people. He said that this situation was intolerable and had to be addressed satisfactorily by all state functionaries. A source told Pakistan Today that the president was so furious that as the meeting started he immediately admonished Naveed Qamar and said the chaotic situation could turn ugly anytime and things might go out of hands of everyone as they were inciting public wrath. "He also reminded the meeting that the opposition parties would take advantage of the situation," the source added. Qamar briefed the meeting about Thursday’s incident that resulted in massive power failure across the country. Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain gave a briefing on the supply of furnace oil and gas to the power plants. He said the supply of oil and gas has been ensured which would result in stabilizing power generation by Friday morning. The meeting was informed that TFCs of Rs 82 billion would be floated after the approval of ECC next week for meeting the circular debt liability and further stabilizing power generation. The president said there was a great need for coordination at all levels and directed all federal government functionaries dealing with oil and gas and power to remain in Islamabad during the next week to meet regularly for monitoring the situation. The president also directed that he be kept informed on a daily basis about the power situation by the functionaries concerned. Zardari also directed that effective measures must be taken for eliminating unscheduled load shedding and suggested that a central control room be set up in the Ministry of Water and Power for the purpose, if necessary.