Restaurant owners and traders denounce government’s national energy conservation plan, calling it ‘counterproductive’

Restaurant owners and traders condemned the national energy conservation plan the government announced yesterday, warning that it will create more problems rather than solutions.

Under the National Energy Conservation Plan, the government has announced that all restaurants and markets shall be closed by 8 pm, while the timing for wedding halls will be limited to 10 pm.

President of the All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran, Ajmal Baloch, urged the government to reconsider the decision, stating that it might bankrupt traders as they purchase the most expensive electricity during the timings 6pm to 8pm.

“The government, before defaulting the country, will bankrupt all traders.”

Rizwan Irfan, the President of the Karachi Electric Dealers Association, said while lamenting the policy. He pointed out that traders were facing problems due to electricity and gas load shedding, stressing that such a decision might cause merchants to start protesting in the streets.

The President of the All Pakistan Restaurants Association, Athar Chawla, has called the national energy conservation plan a “counterproductive” approach to ressolving the energy crisis in Pakistan. In a letter to the Minister of Defence Khwaja Asif, who had unveiled the plan at a press conference on Tuesday, he asked that the policy be reconsidered because of how much it could harm restaurants.

“All restaurants carry an inventory of perishable items, which is to be kept in cold storage 24 hours a day and seven days a week, another major electricity consuming machinery are air-conditioners which are already off due to winter season,” he said.

The letter also urged the minister to consider the losses restaurants suffered during Covid-19, and mentioned that almost 50% restaurants suffered losses due to the present economic situation:

“Any further restriction will aggravate the situation resulting in huge unemployment and loss of revenue for the government.”

The letter requested that the government allow restaurants to operate their dine-in function till 1 am, and food delivery to function 24/7.