Thaindian News

Islamabad, June 10 (IANS) The long periods of load-shedding, especially in the night, should be stopped at once to provide relief to the people, a Pakistani daily said Friday, urging the power companies to shape up their performance and the government to take steps to ramp up capacity.

“The long periods of load-shedding in this intense heat are a torment for the people. On an average, people were forced to undergo four to five hours of power cuts in the day. Now, power cuts have become common in the night too, and people cannot even sleep peacefully,” said an editorial in the Urdu daily Jang.

This state of affairs was dangerous for the sick, and severely inconvenienced students studying for the annual examinations, while the load-shedding in the day meant that the students could not give their exams properly, it said.

The editorial also slammed the government for taking no serious measures to address the shortage of power.

“It seems that this is not on the government’s agenda at all. The budget too had no significant proposal for generating additional power in the country,” the daily said, adding that on the other hand, there was no let-up in increased tariffs.

It also pulled up the domestic power companies for their performance, noting there were no remedies for inflated bills and the firms adopted a lackadaisical approach to power theft, cracking the whip only on small-time offenders while letting others off.

“Power companies must first of all deal with their own shortcomings. On the other hand, the government must take serious steps to augment power generation in the country,” the editorial said.