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NA opposition walks out twice

Load shedding hurting economy

By Zulfiqar Ghuman

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday staged two token walkouts as the lower house of the parliament discussed the impact of frequent power outages on the country’s economy and agriculture.

Maulana Akbar Chitrali of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) led the first walk out against the alleged setting up of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offices in Chitral. Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) led the second walkout to express solidarity with journalists against the non-implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award.

The opposition lambasted the government for long power outages, particularly in industrial cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. They said that the situation was even worse in the rural areas, calling it the government’s failure to provide basic services to its citizens.

The treasury benches, taking advantage of the situation, urged the opposition to create consensus for the construction of water reservoirs, including the Kalabagh Dam, to meet the country’s growing energy needs. The debate will continue today (Wednesday).

The opposition members said that the industrial and agricultural sectors were getting subsidies in neighbouring countries such as China and India. They said that the government of Pakistan, on the other hand, had failed to provide these sectors with electricity even at high rates.

Raja Pervez Ashraf of the PPPP said that the government had failed to provide basic services to its citizens. “This government has failed to tackle issues such as price-hike, law and order and oil prices. And now the power outages are badly affecting the whole country,” he said.

He said that rural areas were the worst hit because power outages there lasted for almost 22 hours a day.

Ashraf expressed concern over reports published in the media ranking Pakistan at number nine in a list of failed states, down from the last year’s position of 34. “These reports have exposed the regime’s claims of good governance,” he said.

Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidry said that there had been an acute electricity shortage in Balochistan for the last one and a half months. “This situation is badly hurting agriculture besides creating serious scarcity of drinking water in certain areas,” he said.

Imitiaz Safdar Warriach said that Karachi alone had suffered a loss of Rs 40 billion due to frequent power outages. He also contested the prime ministers’ claim of benefits from the government’s policies reaching the grass roots.

Dr Farid Paracha of the MMA said that besides thermal and hydel power generation, the government should also consider the option of using nuclear technology for power generation. After Liaquat Jatoi, federal minister for water and power, winds up his debate today, the house will debate the recent increase in oil prices. The opposition had already submitted adjournment motions seeking debate on increase in oil prices.

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