Differences between power minister, top bureaucrat deepen

ISLAMABAD: Secretary of Power Division Yousuf Naseem Khokhar on Friday took leave from office till the 31 May – the last day in the tenure of the incumbent government – soon after a major power crisis hit the country.

On May 16, power supply across Punjab, KP and AJ&K remained suspended for several hours which earned embarrassment for the incumbent government as its main election 2018 slogan was zero electricity load shedding.

A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary Power, Waseem Mukhtar to investigate the reasons for the two consecutive blackouts. The massive breakdown indicates that the transmission system is unreliable.

Insiders in Power Division claim that relations between Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari and Secretary Power Division Yousuf Naseem Khokhar have been strained for the past few months due to differences on some policy issues and other administrative matters.

Published in Business Recorder, 19th May, 2018

https://epaper.brecorder.com/2018/05/19/1-page/717569-news.html