KARACHI: Karachi is experiencing a major power breakdown with around 70% of the city losing electricity.

This is the third major power breakdown in the city this year, the TV said.

Several parts of the city are without power including North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, North Karachi, New Karachi, Landhi, Korangi, Malir, Qaidabad, and Shah Faisal Town.

The power supply to Dhabeji, Gharo, and Pipri pumping stations has been suspended as well. According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, this may lead to a water shortage in the city too.

The cause of the breakdown was not immediately clear but some reports suggest that increasing demand has led to power failure as the system could not cope with the load.

The temperature rose to 40 celsius on Wednesday, according to Met Office.

The K-Electric has confirmed “reports of interruption” in a series of tweets and said it was monitoring the situation.

“We are in contact with the teams of NTDC (National Transmission and Despatch Company),” a KE spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the power breakdown was not limited to Karachi and other cities in Sindh such as Jamshoro, Matiari, and Tando Muhammad Khan have also been affected.

In Hyderabad, the electricity supply to 71 HESCO grid stations has been suspended.

Later, the Ministry of Power tweeted that the total supply to K-Electric from the National Transmission and Despatch Company has been restored.

ISLAMABAD: PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz Wednesday lashed out at the incumbent government and described its past three-year performance as “nothing short of “destruction”.

Speaking to the media after appearing for a hearing of the Avenfield reference case, the PML-N leader said reconciliation was out of the question.

“One should not even hold talks with these people [government],” she said, adding that except for the PTI, all political parties should unite and think about the welfare of Pakistan.

She commented on the Media Regulatory Authority, saying that the government is creating hurdles for the media and Opposition, adding that the bill was a continuation of the incumbent government’s policies aimed at censoring the media.

Maryam said Opposition parties should concentrate on how the government is employing efforts to rig the upcoming elections. She said the government was exacting political revenge in the name of accountability.

In response to a question on Nawaz Sharif’s return, she said:

“Circumstances have changed a lot. Very soon, you will see a lot of things change. Nawaz Sharif will return to the country when it is necessary for him to do so.”

Proceedings of the Avenfield Reference against the PML-N vice president and her husband, Captain (retd) Safdar, have been postponed till September 8.

ISLAMABAD, SEPT 1 /DNA/ – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched the Ehsaas Education Stipends programme for “deserving” families so that they could send their children for education.

Addressing the launch ceremony for the programme in Islamabad, the premier said that 20 million children not going to schools was a “major issue” for the country, and regretted that due importance was not paid to their education, adding that it was important to rectify the issue.

He said a country’s biggest assets “are its people” and that not providing them education was akin to “wasting your asset”.

“By denying the opportunity for upwards [social] mobility, you do a great injustice with that segment,” he said.

The stipend initiative, the premier said, would serve to “incentivise and encourage” children to attend schools.

The prime minister particularly highlighted how more girls were out of school than boys. “We did not give importance to education but especially, and unfortunately, we did not give importance to the girls’ education,” he said.

The prime minister said that a well-educated woman was of greater benefit to the society than a well-educated man because she “teaches her kids and changes the entire system of her household [such as] health and wellbeing of children, which have a lot of societal impact”.

“The West says that we do not want to educate our girls but this is not the case. I’ve visited every region of Pakistan […] and nowhere did I go and see such households where parents wanted their girls to not study,” the he said.

PM Imran said other issues, such as ease of access, contributed more to a lack of girls’ education than the will of the parents. He identified a dearth of schools and faculty as the driving factors behind the menace.

“Parents from everywhere ask me to open schools for girls so it is not that they don’t want to educate [their daughters],” he said. “It was the government duty to facilitate them that was missing till now.”

The prime minister also praised the incorporation of information technology (IT) in the programme to ensure transparency and ward off corruption.

“Through [the use of] IT, we will attain control over most of these issues and, in a very transparent manner, [distribute] these stipends to children and incentivise them and monitor them,” he added.

Stipend kept higher for girls: PMO

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the stipend will be given to “deserving parents”, who can ensure 70 per cent attendance of their children in schools.

“In this programme, the amount of stipend has been kept especially higher for girls. School stipends are for primary, secondary and higher secondary education,” it added.

A press release said that the programme would be rolled out nationwide across all districts.

It said that at the primary level, the boys will get quarterly stipends of Rs1,500 and girls Rs2,000; at the secondary level, the boys will get Rs2,500 and girls Rs3,000; and at the higher secondary level, boys will get Rs3,500 and girls Rs 4,000. The stipends will be issued every quarter.