ISLAMABAD, 23 Jan: Much of Pakistan was left without power for several hours on Monday morning as an energy-saving measure by the government backfired. The outage spread panic and raised questions about the cash-strapped government\u2019s handling of the country\u2019s economic crisis.
\nElectricity was turned off during low usage hours overnight to conserve fuel across the country, officials said, leaving technicians unable to boot up the system all at once after daybreak. The outage was reminiscent of a massive blackout in January 2021, attributed at the time to a technical fault in Pakistan\u2019s power generation and distribution system.
\nMonday\u2019s nationwide breakdown left many people without drinking water as pumps are powered by electricity. Schools, hospitals, factories and shops were without power amid the harsh winter weather.
\nEnergy Minister Khurram Dastgir told local media on Monday that engineers were working to restore the power supply across the country, including in the capital of Islamabad, and tried to reassure the nation that power would be fully restored within the next 12 hours.
\nAccording to the minister, electricity usage typically goes down overnight during winter \u2014 unlike summer months when Pakistanis turn to air conditioning, seeking a respite from the heat.
\n\u201cAs an economic measure, we temporarily shut down our power generation systems\u201d on Sunday night, Dastagir said. When engineers tried to turn the systems back on, a \u201cfluctuation in voltage\u201d was observed, which \u201cforced engineers to shut down the power grid\u201d stations one by one, he added.
\nHe insisted that this was not a major crisis, and that electricity was being restored in phases. In many places and key businesses and institutions, including hospitals, military and government facilities, backup generators kicked in.
\nBy late afternoon Monday, Dastagir told reporters at another press conference that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered a probe into the outage.
\n\u201cWe are hoping that the supply of electricity will be fully restored tonight,\u201d Dastgir said, adding that everything was being done to achieve this.
\nKarachi, the country\u2019s largest city and economic hub, was also without power Monday, as were other key cities such as Quetta, Peshawar and Lahore.
\nIn Lahore, a closing notice was posted on the Orange Line metro stations, with rail workers guarding the sites and trains parked on the rails. It was unknown when the metro system would be restored.
\nImran Rana, a spokesman for Karachi\u2019s power supply company, said the government\u2019s priority was to \u201crestore power to strategic facilities, including hospitals,\u201d airports and other places.
\nInternet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said network data show a significant decline in internet access in Pakistan that was attributed to the nation-scale power outage. It said metrics indicate that connectivity was at 60% of ordinary levels as many users struggled to get online Monday.
\nPakistan gets at least 60% of its electricity from fossil fuels, while nearly 27% of the electricity is generated by hydropower. The contribution of nuclear and solar power to the nation\u2019s grid is about 10%.
\nPakistan is grappling with one of the country\u2019s worst economic crisis in recent years amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. This has compelled the government earlier this month to order shopping malls and markets closed by 8:30 p.m. for energy conservation purposes.
\nTalks are underway with the International Monetary Fund to soften some conditions on Pakistan\u2019s $6 billion bailout, which the government thinks will trigger further inflation hikes. The IMF released the last crucial tranche of $1.1 billion to Islamabad in August.
\nSince then, talks betw-een the two parties have oscillated due to Pakistan\u2019s reluctance to impose new tax measures. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, 23 Jan: Much of Pakistan was left without power for several hours on Monday morning as an energy-saving measure by the government backfired. The outage spread panic and raised questions about the cash-strapped government\u2019s handling of the country\u2019s economic crisis. Electricity was turned off during low usage hours overnight to conserve fuel across the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}