Govt cognizant of problems faced by masses: PM 

Islamabad: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said the incumbent government is fully cognizant of the problems being faced by the people and making sincere efforts to provide relief to them.

Addressing the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Friday, he stated the government has taken several short and medium terms initiatives for resolution of problems particularly to deal with the energy crisis and hefty electricity bills.

He added the government will not succumb to any political pressure in making its sincere efforts to provide relief to the people.

The Prime Minister further said it is the agenda of the allied parties to give relief to the masses and provide them with inexpensive electricity.

Elaborating relief measures, he also stated the government provided Rs50 billion as subsidy for three months electricity bills to the protected electricity consumers, using up to 200 units.

The Prime Minister said the Federal government also launched a mega project costing 70 billion rupees in Balochistan to covert tube wells to solar energy. The contribution of the Federal government in this project would be Rs55 billion.

Shehbaz continued to say a massive campaign was launched during the caretaker government tenure to prevent electricity theft. He thanked Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir for his overwhelming support in making this campaign successful.

He said the issue of electricity should not be politicised and urged all the political parties to join hands with the government in addressing the issue.

The premier also stated the issue of electricity should not be politicized, saying that using electricity issue for political gains is a disgrace to the masses.

He urged all the political parties to join hands with the government in addressing the issue.

He directed the Ministers and government officials to apprise the public about the steps taken by successive Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) governments to overcome load-shedding in the country.

The Prime Minister said efforts are underway to resolve issues with Independent Power Producers (IPP). A mechanism is also being evolved to deal with the IPPs which are under the government's control.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the whole of the government approach is the need of the hour to bring the country out of prevailing challenges and move forward.