CNG stations shut in Punjab

Staff Report

LAHORE: All the CNG stations in Punjab have been closed today due to the annual ten day closure of Qadirpur gas field, said sources Wednesday.

According to SNGPL sources, the closure of Qadirpur gas field till October 19 will cause a decrease in gas availability from 1,900 million cubic feet to 1,500 million cubic feet. To overcome the shortfall of 400 million cubic feet, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) decided to suspend gas supply to all industrial units for five days, efffective September 13.

1,800 CNG stations have been closed in Punjab today.

Weekly holidays will resume at CNG stations and industrial units after the construction of Qadirpur gas field. SAMAA

No gas for Punjab, CNG stations to be closed for 3 days

Staff Report

LAHORE: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Monday has announced that gas supply to all industrial units has been suspended for five days due to the annual 10-day closure of closure of Qadirpur gas field, SAMAA learnt Monday.

All the CNG stations will also remain close for three days.

According to the sources of SNGPL, the closure of Qadirpur gas field till October 19 will cause decrease in gas availability from 1,900 million cubic feet to 1,500 million cubic feet. To overcome this shortfall, SNGPL decided to suspend gas for five days.

Weekly holidays will be started again in CNG stations and industrial units after the construction of Qadirpur gas field. SAMAA

All set for by-polls in PP-34 Sargodha

SARGODHA: Preparations have been completed for by-elections in PP-34 Sargodha scheduled to be held on July 26.

In all 350 polling booths have been set up in 112 polling stations while special powers of a magistrate have been delegated to the presiding officers allowing them to have the people arrested and send to jail for attempting to cast fake votes. These additional powers will remain in force till the completion of polling process.

Ballot papers and ballot boxes have been handed over to the polling staff.

Over 1000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure maintenance of law and order during polling day while some of the polling stations have been declared sensitive under categories A, B and C.

PM says ‘tried to phone Nawaz over COAS tenure extension’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Sunday said he had tried to get through to Nawaz Sharif over the telephone in connection with the extension of Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s tenure as Chief of Army Staff.

Talking informally to reporters here, the Prime Minister said: “I tried to contact Nawaz Sharif on the phone but could not get through to him because he had set off on a journey.”

He said the extension in service for COAS was purely an administrative affair, so need was not felt to consult other parties.

The Prime Minister said the gift of democracy will be presented to the tribal areas once the ongoing operation gets completed there.

He said Kalabagh Dam got highly politicized and wasted but Bhasha Dam will not be allowed to get wasted like that.

Regarding two weekly holidays, Premier Gilani said that two holidays helped save 1500 MW electricity.

He said it is not the first time that speculation has been made about al-Qaeda leaderships’ presence in Pakistan. However, he stressed on efforts aimed at improving the climate of trust between Pakistan and the US.

“We brought together the whole nation against terrorism,” he claimed, adding now no one can say that the people’s support lies with the terrorists.

BB’s assassins will not escape their fate: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Gilani in his radio address Friday said the government efforts led to headway in the probe of assassination of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

“In this connection, the report of United Nations Commission has been made public. I fully realise feelings of the public. I assure you that the killers of our Shaheed leader will not escape their fate and the blood of BB Shaheed will bear fruit.”

Gilani told that the finance ministry had been told to make a pro-poor financial budget.

He referred to the announcement of the new labour policy on May 1, which is meant to improve working conditions and standard of living of working class and labourers.

In the new policy, besides other steps, the government raised the minimum wage from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,000 and it was made mandatory that the payment should be made through the bank.

The prime minister said as a consequence of this consultation, short-term, medium-term and long-term strategies have been formulated to curb the shortage of electricity in a way that not only the government was able to the formulate plans for increased production but also eliminate the unjust and unscheduled electricity loadshedding.

He said in order to check unemployment and to ensure increased production it has been decided that all industrial units and agricultural tube-wells will be provided uninterrupted power supply for five days a week.

Prime Minister Gilani also referred to the government”s decisions such as closure of markets at 8.00 pm, two weekly holidays in all public sector institutions and the elimination of unscheduled load-shedding and said due to these measures a total of 1000 mega watt of electricity was saved.

He also highlighted that increasing the production capacity of additional 1,000 MW required around four years and an investment of$1.5 billion, adding, but the government due to its effective strategy saved 1,000 MW in a few days, which helped control the problem to some extent.

The prime minister said that power crisis is a national issue and its solution was not possible without joint efforts and cooperation by the whole nation. “We are a living nation and we know how to face the crises. Our nation always emerged victorious in all tests”, he maintained.

The prime minister assured the nation that government was sincere and striving hard to resolve the power issue on permanent basis. He said that the PPP government had earlier increased the production capacity of electricity and now by the grace of Allah Almighty the government would again resolve the issue to steer the country out of the crisis.

The prime minister said that during the SAARC Summit in Bhutan,he held very useful and constructive meetings with the heads of the states including Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Gilani said that he clarified that the whole region was confronted with terrorism.

The people of Pakistan and its brave armed forces including the law enforcement agencies were fighting the war to maintain peace in the region and in this connection has given unprecedented sacrifices, he said.

Prime Minister Gilani said that in his talks with his Indian counterpart he emphasized that dialogue was a must for permanent peace in the region to which Dr. Manmohan Singh agreed that all issues should be resolved through dialogue.

“I hope the dialogue will bear fruit and can find the way to resolve the issues including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries,” he said.

Steps taken to ensure cash availability at ATMs in off days

KARACHI: Special arrangements have been made to provide cash at ATMs during two weekly holidays, Link1 said Sunday.

In a statement from Link1, which provides ATMs network to banks, the spokesman said the electronic banking is expected to be on the rise, as the decision relating two weekly holidays is applicable to banks as well.

31 banks associated with Link1, have been directed to ensure the cash availability and care of their ATMs during these two weekly off days, so that consumers may be benefited from this facility.

The Link1 said the consumers may use the ATMs for paying their utility bills including other facilities in addition to cash withdrawal.

Power crisis still raging; Balochistan worst hit

LAHORE: The power shortfall could not dwindle out despite it being a weekend with spans of 8 to 10 hours of load shedding being carried out in cities and 14-hour duration in the rural areas, Geo News reported Sunday.

The government’s failure is out and out conspicuous in Balochistan where the span of power outages swelled to 20 hours, which triggered the problem of water shortage.

Despite the tall claims by the government to cut down the power shortfall with the help of two weekly holidays, shortfall persisted itself with the power production standing at 10,500 Megawatts and demand still rising at 13,900 MWs, according to statistics provided by Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO).

No proper load shedding schedule has been hammered out, as unequal spans of affliction are being carried out in the cities of the country.

The power outage span in Karachi, Islamabad and Faisalabad is three hours; however, this span is ballooned to 12 hours in other cities including Lahore.

In 14 districts of Balochistan, people are being bedeviled for 20 hours a day for ten days now. Water supply is badly affected, which has adversely impacted on agriculture. The problem has forced citizens to run around all day for potable water.

Sindh’s urban areas including Larkana, Qambar Shahdadkot, Nawab Shah, Qazi Ahmed, Jakobabad, Shikarpur, Obaro and Ghotki do not receive power for 12 to 14 hours; while, the rural areas are affected with 14 to 16-hour of load shedding.

Hyderabad is suffering from 8 to 10 hours of load shedding.

The urban areas of Bahawalpur are hit with 12 to 14 hours of load shedding and the span widens 14 to 16 hours in rural areas. It is cotton-sowing season and farmers are in hot waters, as the power crisis made them unable to run their tube wells.

Several hours of load shedding are being carried out in Punjab cities including Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Muzzargarh AND Faisalabad.

The people are facing great problems in hot weather in Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw, where 12 to 14 hours of load shedding has made the life miserable in urban areas and 16 hours in rural areas.

The power crisis also sapped the blood from trade life.

Cabinet rejects weekly 2 days off in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, : The federal cabinet meeting rejected the proposal of two weekly holidays on Wednesday.

The meeting was being chaired by the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The meeting also decided to minimize the expenditures of the government. The foreign visits of President and Prime Minister would be reduced by 40 percent.

The foreign visits of the ministers would also be reduced by 30 percent. President and Prime Minister would only use seven vehicles in their cavalcade. Governors and Chief Ministers would use only six vehicles in their motorcade.

The facility for the ministers to perform Hajj on the governmnent expenses would be no more. The federal ministers could only use 1800 cc cars and the provincial ministers could only use 1600 cc cars.

President And PM’s Foreign Visits to be Reduced by 40 pc

Pakistan News: Federal Cabinet has decided to reduce foreign visits of President and Prime Minister by 40 percent while privilege of performing Hajj pilgrimage on government expenses has also been abolished.
The federal cabinet met in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss recommendations made by Austerity Committee to reduce government’s expenditures. The meeting also decided that the convoy of President and PM will consist of 7 vehicles whereas convoy of Governors and CMs will consist of 6 vehicles. Federal Ministers’ convoy will have only two vehicles and they are urged to use 1800cc whereas provincial ministers to use 1600cc vehicles. President and Prime Minister’s foreign visits will be reduced by 40 percent while visits of Federal Ministers will be reduced by 30 percent.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen had constituted Austerity Committee which presented recommendations including two weekly holidays and cut in the expenses of security protocol of ministers and VVIPs.

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President And PM’s Foreign Visits to be Reduced by 40 pc was first posted on December 16, 2009 at 9:18 pm.