A day after the massive breakdown hit the country which left more than 220 million people without electricity and incurred tens of millions of dollars in industry losses, the federal cabinet directed the authorities concerned to devise a comprehensive strategy to prevent such a widespread blackout in the future.
\nThe outage occurred on a winter’s day when temperatures are forecast to fall to around 4 degrees Celsius in Islamabad and 8 degrees Celsius in Karachi. According to details, the country experienced a major blackout when a fuel conserving measure by the authorities went wrong.
\nDuring an interaction with local media on Monday, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir said: \u201cAs an economic measure, we temporarily shut down our power generation systems [Sunday night].\u201d He added that when the engineers tried to turn the systems back on, a \u201cfluctuation in voltage\u201d was observed, forcing the officials to shut down the power grid stations.
\nThe cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a nationwide public awareness drive on the conservation of power, water, gas and other resources to make the people develop such habits.
\nThe meeting also called for inclusion of the subject of best international practices on energy conservation in the educational curriculum.
\nIt was told that energy conservation efforts at the public, private, domestic and commercial levels would help reduce the import bill of petroleum products which had increased remarkably during the last seven years.
\nThe prime minister, expressing annoyance over the widespread power breakdown on Monday, said the inconvenience caused to the people was unacceptable and would not tolerate such happenings in the future.
\nPremier Shehbaz also called for fixing the responsibility of the power outage which had caused difficulties for the masses as well as the business community. He also instructed to identify the factors behind the power breakdown and take necessary measures to prevent its recurrence.
\nThe cabinet meeting was told that a committee formed by the prime minister had started functioning which would furnish a comprehensive report after deliberating over all the factors.
\nThe participants of the meeting told that all major 1112 grid stations were also restored by 0500 hours on Tuesday morning to ensure power supply to the consumers.
\nFederal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb gave a detailed briefing to the cabinet on National Awareness and Communication Strategy for Energy Conservation under which a long-term awareness drive would be launched.
\nShe told the meeting that, prior to the drive, the information ministry carried out the first comprehensive survey to seek public opinion on the energy conservation. Considering the public behaviour, the ministry prepared an awareness drive which would focus on developing people\u2019s habits, lifestyle and bahaviour for energy conservation.
\nThe federal cabinet appreciated and approved the information ministry\u2019s awareness drive and instructed for its early launch, also asking other ministries to extend their support.
\nThe prime minister directed taking the caretaker governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into confidence on the energy conservation plans to ensure their effective implementation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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