The agitations being staged by owners of industries and labourers entered third day in protest against five-day gas load shedding here in Faisalabad’s industrial units,reported here late Thursday.However, for a sigh of relief, the stakeholders expressed satisfaction after hearing announcement made by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, according to which, the ongoing gas load shedding in industrial units in Faisalabad would end by March 15.Earlier, the workers in Faisalabad made a ruined attempt to set the central office of Sui Gas Department at Sargodha Road on fire after having surrounded the building but in vainAlso, the labourers burnt tyres outside office of district council protesting against the gas load shedding in Faisalabad’s industrial areas.Meanwhile, the owners of industries in Rahim Yar Khan have started using wood to light fire to run power looms.Later, the Primer issued an official notice disseminating that the gas outages in Faisalabad’s industrial hubs will end latest by mid March this year.
MULTAN,Feb 18th:The cash strapped Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Thursday refused to supply furnace oil to the power sector due to the non-payment of its dues of Rs 158 billion. PSO has decided to discontinue the fuel supply to power sector to avoid further defaults on part of the sector, sources said.
They said PSO took the decision after oil refineries threatened it with halting fuel supply, and the state-run oil marketing company is now in no position to continue supplies without receiving payment from the government. PSO earlier requested the Finance Ministry to direct Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) to remit payment from its monthly recovery to ease the company’s financial woes.
PSO sources said total receivables from the power sector had swelled to Rs 158 billion, with the major defaulting entities being WAPDA, HUBCO and KAPCO, which owed Rs 47.22 billion, Rs 73.29 billion and Rs 28.86 billion respectively. They said the amounts owed to refineries had also jumped to Rs 85 billion, while the payables to international oil suppliers had soared to Rs 43 billion.
PSO, which supplies 23,000 tonnes of fuel per day to the power sector, has not received any dues since the previous payment on January 7, 2011. PSO has been the primary fuel supplier to all major power sector companies of the country and has been instrumental in absorbing the impact of the current financial situation. It has received only Rs 38.74 billion against the released amount of Rs 45 billion, but despite the payment of Rs 38.74 billion from the government and PEPCO, the financial position of PSO is still critical.
Meanwhile, source in Lahore said PEPCO had failed to clear the dues of more than Rs 200 billion owed to various power generation companies and if situation continued, the country could face severe load shedding in the coming days. PEPCO owes has to pay Rs 52 billion to WAPDA for electricity produced from hydel generation until December 31, 2010.
The sources said the company officials were not paying in time to various power producers, despite knowing that it could cause massive load shedding if power produces stopped generation due to the non-payment. A PSO spokesman said PEPCO had not paid the company’s dues and the decision had been made to saev PSO from default.
HUBCO and KAPCO power units produce 1,200 megawatts each, thus the national grid could face a shortage of 2,400MW in the coming days. Presently, power generation hovers around 11,000MW and the shortfall is around 1,000MW. “If the shortfall rises to 3,400MW, then at least eight-hour load shedding would be undertaken across the country,” a senior official said, adding that it was high time PEPCO paid up.
PEPCO Energy and Management Conservation (EMC) Director Muhammad Khalid said KAPCO and HUBCO had sufficient stocks of oil and there was grim chance of load shedding.
MULTAN, May 27th:The hottest weather when mercury shot up to 49 degree celisius coupled with unscheduled loadshedding in Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions have created numerous problems for people belonging to different walks of life, who have to suffer in scorching heat.The people were of the view that they can bear the hot weather if there is electricity, but the sudden increase in loadshedding during last one week has disturbed their routine life as they can neither have a peaceful sleep in the night nor they can do their business in the day.
Ubaidullah, a resident of Basti Khudadad said that hot weather and the power outage has created problems for students, as they couldn’t concentrate on their studies because of the electricity crisis. "My two children are preparing for midterm examinations, but they could not concentrate on study due to loadshedding," he added.
Abdul Qayyum, a resident of Kukkar Hatta, said that the residents of the area were facing worst kind of power outages and life has become very difficult for them. He said that despite government orders for closure of shops and markets at 8:00 p.m. and two days weekly off the concerned authorities have failed to overcome the electricity crisis and to provide electricity, which is one of the basic necessities of life.Yaqoub Mirza, a shopkeeper in Saddar Bazaar, said that government has passed the orders to close the shops and markets at 8:00 p.m. to overcome the electricity crisis. "We are following the orders, but despite this government has failed to provide us the electricity," he added. He said that there is loadhsedding in the day, which is affecting their business. "We are already facing loss, as only handful of customers visit our shops because of the hot weather and the power outage has increased our problems," he said. Rabia Khan, a housewife, said that the time of loadshedding in May is around 10 to 12 hours per day and wondered as what would happen in June and July when the mercury will rise further.She said that electricity loadshedding creates lots of problems like shortage of water, which halts routine life. "The concerned authorities should make a schedule for electricity loadshedding and follow it strictly," she added.
MULTAN,April 2nd:Seraikistan Qaumi Movement (SQM) Chief Hameed Asghar Shaheen has said that Kalabagh Dam is the only solution to meet energy requirements as it is the only option to take the bull of energy by horns and to irrigate the million acres of barren land of Thal and Cholistan.Talking to newsmen here on friday.Shaheen said that Kalabagh dam project was dropped by the rulers because it was in the benefit of Southern Punjab which could change the destiny of 50 million people.He said that Indus Basin Irrigation system is "the food machine of our country which is going to be impeded by our negligence and poor strategic wisdom". He also said that question of Pakistan's progress and development came immediately after country's birth when only 20 to 30MW electricity was produced. He said that first violent step had been taken by India when she stopped Ravi and Satluj and ruined 7 million acres of fertile belt of Pakistan.In 1960 India snatched the water of three rivers and Pakistan chose to construct Mangla and Terbela through Indus Water Treaty. He called it a pro-Indian accord although it was signed by Pakistan administration. "We cannot find this kind of accord today since no country can compromise her future when her economy, development, progress and prosperity walks immensely with the flow of water," he added.He advocated Kalabagh Dam by referring a report -The Development of Water and Pawer Resources of West Pakistan complied by Indus Study Team formulated by Dr. Lifnic executive director of World bank- that it was the only project which will provide ample energy in the opening decades of twenty first century. He also said that present crisis had been forecasted by the Indus Study Team and he had also been apprising the ruling and political elite of the intense sensitivity of the issue but nobody would pay heal to it.He rejected the thermal production of electricity completely and said that fuel cast makes the production cost too high. According to him 1 kg of furnace oil casting Rs. 50 can be used in the production of 4 units only and per unit production cast becomes Rs. 12 whereas hydal unit can be produced of 49 paisas only. 40% of the consumers are domestic and others are industrial and agricultural. How they all would be comfortable with thermal unit casting sky high as compared to hyderal unit. We are not only facing short fall, destroying our industry and agriculture rather we are obliterating our economy."We have to put our own house in order first only then we can look straight into the eyes of India and India could never harm us if we would have husbanded our portion of water", he said while replying to a question.Commenting on the Apportionment Accord Shamas said that the matter had been politicised no way in the favor and interest of the country rather it had been done only to score more and more points. He said that Khayber Pakhtoonkhwa is above the Kabul river and Sindh got 14.7 million acre ft instead of 10 million acre ft which is 47% more after the construction of terbela dam. So he rejected all reservations and appealed the authorities to go for this precious project. "We are paying the price of our previous mistakes and we have to pay more in future if we don't think well no," he concluded.
MULTAN, Feb 13th: Local parliamentarians Senator Syed Javed Ali Shah of PML-Q, Senator Malik Salahuddin Dogar of PPP, Rana Mehmood-ul-Hassan MNA chairman of NA’s standing committee on ports and shipping, Begum Memona Hashmi, Begum Nasim Chaudhry , Nawab Liaquat Ali have bitterly criticized the India for constructing dams on Chenab, and digging a tunnel at Siachen to divert the flow of Indus towards India and other rivers providing water to Pakistan, as the actions were causing deficiency of water in Pakistan, which could result in a drought situation.In their separate statements issued here on Saturday .They said India was constructing Baghlihar and Kishan Ganga dams as well as the Wullar Barrage on the rivers in violation of the Indus Water Treaty, 1960,) They warned that Indian actions could trigger war between the two South Asian countries. “It is water terrorism. India wants to make Pakistan barren,”they said.Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of PML-N said that India had declared water war against Pakistan from the eastern and western fronts. He said that on one hand India was building dams on the River Chenab, while on the other, it was working with the Afghan government to stop water from the River Kabul. He said that Indian water aggression was costing 3,900 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan, and loss worth $12 billion to the agriculture sector. Hashmi said India was cultivating its lands on expense of Pakistan’s lands, for which the government of Pakistan should be compensated.
“The government should use aggressive diplomacy to get this claim reimbursed and get India to stop its hydropower blocks,” he added. The PML-N legislator said that like the Indus Water Treaty, the inter-provincial water accord of 1991 should also be respected. Southern Punjab MNAs and Senators said that India had constructed a 28-mile-long tunnel in the Kargil area to get water from the Indus River, which was also a clear violation of the Indus Water Treaty. They urged the government to take effective measures to stop India from these illegal actions, and to claim penalty against the damages. They also called upon the government to launch a diplomatic campaign to stop India from causing damages to Pakistan.
