Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that a reduction in working days coupled with an increase in working hours could help significantly reduce fuel and electricity costs.
The minister said in a tweet that if the number of working days was reduced to 4.5 days a week, and the working hours were increased by an additional hour each day, the nation could save a significant amount of energy and fuel.
موجودہ حالات میں سارے مللک میں ہفتہ میں ھفتہ اتوار پور ی تعطیل اورجمعہ کےروز آدھادن یعنی ھفتہ میں 4.5دن کام ھو.کام کےدنوں میں ایک گھنٹہ دفاتر کا دورانیہ بڑھا دیا جاۓ.سڑکوں پہ ٹریفک کم ھو گی.تیل اور بجلی دونوں کی بچت ھو گی.کفایت شعار ی کے کلچر کو فروغ ملے گا.
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) June 6, 2022
“Traffic on roads will be reduced. Both oil and electricity will be saved. The culture of austerity will be promoted,” he said.
The defence minister’s tweet comes following the recent increase in fuel prices and electricity surcharges. Last week, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced that the price of petroleum products would be increasing by an additional Rs 30, after the first price hike a week before.
Similarly, the cost of electricity was also raised by almost Rs 8 by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
Khawaja Asif had also suggested altering the working hours of marketplaces, a day before. In a tweet, he said that no where else in the world except for Pakistan did markets operate from 1 PM to 1 AM.
ھماری مارکیٹیں دوپہر 1بجےکھلتی ھیں،رات1بجےبند ھوتی ھیں دنیا میں یہ کہیں نہیں ھوتا.اللہ نے ھمارےوطن کو365 دن سورج کی روشنی بخشی ھےھم اندھیرے میں لائٹ جلا کرکاروبار کرتےھیں.اگرمارکیٹیں ٹائم درست کرلیں تو کراچی کےبغیر3500 میگاواٹ بجلی بچتی ھے.مشکل حالات ھیں مشکل فیصلوں کی ضرورت ھے
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) June 4, 2022
“Allah has given our country 365 days of sunshine, and yet we do business at night with the help of electric lights,” he said, adding that if markets were to fix their hours, almost 3500 megawatts of electricity could be saved. “Difficult times call for difficult measures.”
Previously, on June 4, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called an emergency meeting to give directives for the immediate decrease of power outages in the country.
According to Minister Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb the prime minister had said that load shedding should be cut down within 24 hours, and that a committee consisting of the minister for energy, petroleum and finance should present an actionable plan soon.
