PM Khan lauds power minister over Rs81bn hike in collection

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday congratulated federal minister of power, Omar Ayub, for "Rs 81 billion increase in collection in 8 months".

In a flurry of posts on his Twitter account, Khan said: "Rs 58 billion [was generated] from theft control."

In addition, he, citing his campaign slogan of "Naya Pakistan," claimed that 80 percent of Pakistan was free from load-shedding and in light of the holy month of Ramzan, said: "Zero load shedding at sehr and iftar."

Writing about the forthcoming year, he said he expected "another Rs 120 bn to be recovered next year".

The premier mentioned that the circular debt flow had already been reduced from Rs38 billion a month to Rs 26 billion and was expected to come down to "zero by next December".

"Rs 100 bn Additional will be recovered from old receivables," he added.

In the context of energy and power, especially renewable resources, Khan said the reliance on fuels imported from abroad would be slashed from 41 percent to 30 percent over five years.

"Less than 20 percent in 10 years using hydel, renewables and local fuels like Thar coal," he added.

#CosmicShamelessness

Maryam Nawaz, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and former first daughter, responded strongly to Khan's Twitter posts, terming him "incompetent" and using the hashtag "#CosmicShamelessness".

While the incompetent premier was unable to do anything other than cause damage and destruction, he now has the audacity to claim [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif's work and successes as his own."

Separately, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also had a seething response to Khan's claims. "No matter how deceptive the swing & how cunning the skipper, the facts cannot be twisted," he said.

"People know it full well that PTI failed to build power plants in KP despite tall claims, whereas, PM NS added a total of 11000 MW to the system during his prev term.

"Hence no load-shedding," he said.