ISLAMABAD – During the National Assembly session, Minister of State for Water and Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali again irked People’s Party (PPP) lawmakers.
“Electricity cannot be given in charity. To have electricity, people must pay their bills,” the minister said in response to a calling attention notice moved by PPP lawmakers, regarding the long hours of unscheduled electricity loadshedding in Sindh. As per sources, the overall electricity demand in Karachi has crossed 2300 megawatt while daily power shortfall stands at 350 megawatt. Recently, transmission lines into Punjab from Sindh tripped because of foggy weather, causing 700 megawatts of electricity to become unavailable to the country’s largest province.
However, MNA Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani replied to the minister’s comment by saying, “The government should not assign important ministries and tasks to ministers who lack basic manners of talking to colleagues in house. I am a three-time MNA and the minister is not showing me any respect.” PPP legislators Imran Leghari, Shazia Marri, Dr Nafisa Shah, Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani and Abdul Sattar Bachani had moved the calling attention notice in the house.
