PM Shehbaz takes strict notice of countrywide electricity breakdown and orders a high-level probe
islamabad
A massive power cut across Pakistan continued after night fell on Monday, affecting most of the country’s 220 million residents, including in the metropolises of Karachi and Lahore.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the outage, which began at around 7:30am and has so far lasted more than 16 hours during the peak winter season.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office, the Prime Minister constituted a high-level committee for investigation into the matter.
He also sought report from the Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir in this regard.
Expressing his annoyance, he said it should be apprised as to why such a big breakdown of electricity took place in the country.
The outage occurred on a winter’s day when temperatures are forecast to fall to around 4 degrees Celsius (39°F) in Islamabad and 8 degrees Celsius (46°F) in Karachi.
The outage — which Energy Minister Khurram Dastagir had said was due to a voltage surge — is the second major grid failure in three months, and adds to the blackouts that Pakistan’s populace suffers on an almost-daily basis.
Analysts and officials blame the power problems on an ageing electricity network, which like much of the national infrastructure, desperately needs an upgrade that the government says it can ill afford.
As evening drew on and homes were without electricity in the dark, the energy minister wrote on Twitter that authorities had started restoring power across the country. Dastgir had told reporters earlier: “We have faced some hurdles but we will overcome these hurdles, and will restore the power.”
