ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal has directed the Power Division and the Provincial Government of Baluchistan to come up with a comprehensive strategy for converting agricultural tubewells to solar energy, a move to ensure cost-effective and uninterrupted power supply to the farmers in the province.
This minister said this while chairing a high-level meeting, here on Tuesday, where he emphasized the conversion of electric agricultural tubewells to solar energy to provide a cost-effective and uninterrupted power supply to farmers in Baluchistan province.
Minister for Energy Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Secretary Power Division and other officials also attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal stated that the government would leave no stone unturned to utilize all the possible resources to ensure the timely completion of federal development projects, with a special priority on the people of Baluchistan.
Minister Highlights Impact of Electricity Theft, Non-Payment of Bills
Talking over the electricity theft and non-payment of bills, the minister said that such unfair means were the key causes of continuous disruptions in power generation and transmission that led to continuous load shedding and urged the concerned departments to take concrete measures and urged exemplary punishment against those involved in electricity theft.
He also called for launching an awareness campaign against electricity theft and timely payment of electricity bills.
Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Baluchistan Sarfraz Bugti remarked that the farming community faced scores of issues in the province, including inadequate electricity supply and load shedding, that deeply affected the agriculture sector.
