Electricity short fall reaches to 4000MW

The short fall of electricity has reach to 4000 Mega watts due to which unannounced hours-long load shedding traders across the country have threatened to launch country-wide strikes and protest demonstrations if the government fails to ensure smooth provision of electricity or increases the power tariff. The traders would start their protest campaign on a smaller scale from Hall Road on Monday. Qaumi Tajir Itehad Hall Road President Babar Ali Khan has announced that one of the biggest electronics markets in the country would remain partially closed from 3pm to 5pm on Monday while the traders would hold a protest demonstration on The Mall. In a statement issued on Sunday, the traders warned that the ongoing wave of load shedding and the increase in electricity rates, which means the ending of the subsidy, were proving lethal for the trade and economy of the country. They said all of them would come out on the roads and join the public in major protests in the near future if the government did not reverse its decision to increase the tariffs and end load shedding. All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran had announced country-wide protests in the supervision of their President Haji Maqsood Butt on Saturday. They stated that today`s strike is part of the protest while they would increase the pressure upon the government if no one paid heed to their demands. Meanwhile, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) authorities continued with the projected load shedding in an indiscriminate manner throughout the provincial capital. Citizens were deprived of smooth power supply on Sunday, despite the closure of all industries and financial centres in the city, stating that the shortfall of power reached 1,000 megawatts and that LESCO was left with no other alternative but to continue with the load shedding.