Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interest (CCI) on Wednesday approved national petroleum and mineral policies 2012 and also adopted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s resolution on uniform electricity load-shedding in the country, SAMAA reports.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf chaired the CCI meeting which was also attended by chief ministers from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan besides federal ministers.

Sources said, during the meeting, Sharif lodged a protest over prolonged power outages in Punjab due to what he described as “unjust power distribution” by the federal government and power generation companies.

The CM called for a fair distribution of the electricity across the country. He presented a resolution, seeking uniform power distribution and load-shedding, which was adopted by the CCI.

However, the prime minister said: “Punjab is facing no discrimination since a uniform load-shedding is being carried out throughout the country, therefore, you should stop protesting over the issue.”

Raja claimed that the government was preparing a mechanism to thoroughly examine the prevailing power crisis.

To implement Shahbaz Sharif’s resolution, a committee was formulated under the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, comprising federal secretary of water and power ministry and one technical member from each province. – SAMAA