Shahbaz(lohar) Sharif's Ujala scheme darkens Punjab’s energy production prospects

The Punjab government’s new plan of attracting voters by distributing solar lamps is a waste of precious funds since the provincial government has not initiated any significant projects for power generation, sources told Pakistan Today on Wednesday. The Chief Minister’s Ujaala Programme will cost around Rs 3.5 billion and aims at distributing solar lamps to matriculation students who are enrolled in a government school and have secured more than 55 percent marks in grade 9. However, sources on good authority revealed that various proposals such as distributing electric fans and water coolers came up during deliberations, while solar lamps were preferred to enable students to study during severe power outages. “Basically, the project focuses on low-income households, especially those in the rural Punjab which experiences up to 18 hours of load shedding,” a senior official seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today. The official further revealed that the government had planned to distribute 200,000 solar-powered lamps, each costing a little less than Rs 12,000. Critics of the project, however, maintained that the Punjab government was trying to woo the voters through such short term projects that would prove to be very heavy on the national exchequer. “The government has allocated Rs 12 billion for power generation in this budget but no project has been initiated so far, while the government is again spending one-third of that amount on distributing solar lamps which is no solution to load shedding at all,” a senior official said, asking not to be named. The federal government had transferred the powers to generate electricity to the provinces after the 18th Amendment and the Punjab government had been facing a lot of criticism over its failure to generate electricity and for blaming the federal government. Talking to Pakistan Today, Energy Department Secretary Jehanzaib Khan said that the project had been initiated for the young students in the government set-up and had nothing to do with elections or voters. Answering a question, he said the government had completed the feasibility study of coal-based power generation projects and it would start off soon, while the chief minister had recently inaugurated a 4MW power generation project. He said that the provincial government was trying to find a long term solution to the load shedding issue.