The provincial assembly of the NWFP province, on Friday (October 2, 2009), unanimously demanded of the government that the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) stop the merciless load shedding in the province, failing which the provincial government will cut the supply of electric power to other provinces.

Currently, the cities in the province are bearing up to 6 hours of power outages daily, in form of one-hour power outage episodes. In the rural areas, the daily duration of load shedding reaches 15 hours. This is more than due load shedding as the province produces most of the electric power in the country. These facts were shared with the assembly by the PPP parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan, who suggested discussing the matter with the federal government without any lapse of time.

An opposition leader questioned WAPDA’s efficiency and expressed disbelief in the pretense of power crisis, saying how come that load shedding was controlled completely during the month of Ramazan and now it has been resumed. Mr. Bashir A. Bilour of the Awami National Party (ANP) expressed concern over the hike in price of electricity in NWFP while the province was producing cheap electricity and was still suffering from more load shedding. He demanded that the control of electric power of the province be handed to the provincial government.

Other leaders, both from opposition and the ruling party, agreed on taking measures against the authorities should the power outages in the province were not eased soon enough by the federal government. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has assured the nation that the government is taking serious measures to overcome the prevailing power crisis in the country.