10:07 PM
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Islamabad – (dpa)
Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Tuesday ordered the concerned authorities to formulate a comprehensive strategy to prevent the recurrence of prolonged power outages in the future and eliminate the factors that cause them, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The Cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif also approved a public awareness campaign on the conservation of energy, water, gas and other resources so that the population develops such habits.
The meeting also called for the inclusion of a course on international best practices in energy conservation in the curriculum.
It was reported that efforts to conserve energy at the public, private, local and commercial levels will help reduce the bill for importing petroleum products, which has increased significantly over the past seven years.
Sharif apologized earlier today, Tuesday, to his people, after the country plunged into complete darkness for 24 hours due to a collapse in the electricity transmission and distribution network.
Monday’s power outage left the country of 220 million people in darkness. Factories stopped production, hospitals were forced to operate with emergency generators, and some railway operations were halted.
Energy Minister Khurram Dastagir said electricity supplies were restored on Tuesday morning.
Despite the government’s announcement of the return of electricity, some areas are still without electricity. And citizens of Karachi complain that the electricity supply has not been fully restored in the city.
Shahbaz Sharif tweeted: “On behalf of my government, I would like to express my sincere regret for the inconvenience our citizens suffered due to the power outage yesterday.
He added, “According to my orders, an investigation is now underway to determine the causes of the power outage,” vowing to punish those responsible for the disaster.
Deputy Energy Minister Mossadeq Masood Malik said that Pakistan is facing an energy crisis due to lack of funds to reform the old system system.
