ISB 21-12-2011_Layout 1 12/21/2011 2:06 AM Page 1
Gilani directs Railways to improve efficiency
Bal Thackeray wants Veena to be sent back to Pakistan
675 women killed for ‘honour’ in last nine months
PROFIT | PAGE 01
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pakistantoday.com.pk
Rs15.00 Vol ii no 174 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition
After gas outages, brace for power cuts g
Hydroelectric generation to drop by at least 2,5003,000MW as canals are closed for desilting, resulting in six to eight hours of load shedding LAHORE
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NAUMAN TASLEEM
s citizens across the country suffer from frequent gas outages, another spell of electricty load shedding is awaiting the consumers from December 26, when canals will be closed for desilting and hydroelectric power generation will drop sharply, sources told Pakistan Today on Tuesday. The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has asked the Finance Ministry to release at least Rs 20 billion in additional funds to meet the power demand, but so far has not received any positive response from the ministry. Sources said that because of the closure of the canals, hydroelectric generation would drop by at least 2,500 megawatts to 3,000 megawatts and it would result in minimum six to eight hours of load shedding every day. The canals would remain closed for one month and it is expected that the water flow
in the rivers would return to normal levels in the first week of February. Load shedding began again from Sunday, December 18. The current duration of load shedding is only three to four hours but it is projected to increase sharply once the canals are closed, reaching up to eight hours. These days, PEPCO is getting around 4,000MW from hydroelectric generation, around 1,600MW from thermal and more than 5,600MW from Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The demand of electricity in Pakistan during winter touches 12,000MW and if 3,000MW of power is subtracted from the system, the shortfall would be at least 30 percent and it would be managed through six to eight hours of load shedding, said the sources. They said power plants running on gas could also face problems because of gas shortfall, with PEPCO also facing gas curtailment for its power plants. “Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is also facing gas shortfall and it is expected that gas for power plants would drop and around 1,000MW shortfall would be added,” said a senior official of the Water and Power Ministry, adding that if gas supply was reduced the duration of load shedding could touch 10 hours. PEPCO Managing Director Rasool Khan Mahsud told Pakistan Today that he was making every effort to control load shedding caused by the canal closures. “I am hopeful that there will be very little load shedding during the canal closures, as we have requested the Ministry of Finance to release additional money,” he said, adding that in recent months PEPCO made round the clock efforts to provide electricity to consumers. However, he did not deny that there would be increased load shedding during canal closures.
Wednesday, 21 december, 2011 Muharram-ul-Haram 25, 1433
28 MPs may lose their seats ISLAMABAD MASOOD REHMAN
A three-member Supreme Court bench observed on Tuesday that around 28 members of the National Assembly and provincial as-
semblies elected in by-elections when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was incomplete under the 18th Amendment might lose their seats. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
No political role for army, says Nawaz KARACHI QAZI ASIF
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said whether the government remained intact or not, any role of the army in politics was unacceptable and the government itself should come forward to save democracy and announce general elections. He strongly criticised the establishment for asking the people to join one or the other party and appealed to the judiciary to play its role in saving democracy. He, however, did not mention the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief nor replied clearly to repeated questions about demands for the ISI chief’s resignation. He said after every eight or 10 years, dictatorship disrupted the country and the country went into reverse instead of going forward. Continued on page 04
Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan seeking Continued on page 04