ISLAMABAD: On his first day in office as Federal Minister for Water and Power, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar removed on Monday the National Transmission and Dispatch Company’s Managing Director, Rasul Khan Mehsud, from his post.

A water and power ministry official said: “Mr Mehsud has been suspended with immediate effect on the orders of the (newly inducted) minister.”

The ministry did not immediately issue a notification for his replacement or give acting charge of the NTDC head to anybody.

Officials said that the contract of Mr Mehsud, due to expire in August, was also likely to be terminated.

Officials said that Nazir Ahmad Shaikh, the head of Central Power Purchase Agency (CPPA) — currently working under the NTDC — was likely to be appointed as the new NTDC chief. Informed sources said the new power minister believed Mr Mehsud was not running the affairs of the power transmission and distribution system in an efficient manner, resulting in widespread loadshedding in the country.

Asked if reports about removal of Mr Mehsud on charges of inefficiency were correct, Mr Ahmad Mukhtar told journalists at the Lahore airport that besides inefficiency, some other factors were responsible for his removal.

The Chaudhry from Gujrat, who defeated former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in the 2008 general elections, is reported to have volunteered to the president to take the challenge of minimising loadshedding by reorganising the power sector.

Immediately after joining the ministry, Mr Mukhtar sought an initial briefing and then decided to have a comperehensive presentation from Wapda chairman Shakeel Durrani in Lahore on Tuesday.

Mr Durrani, who is also on an extended contract for more than four years now, would brief the minister on water sector projects, its huge receivables and slow progress on development projects.

An official statement said the Secretary of Water and Power, Imtiaz Kazi, gave a general briefing to the new minister on affairs of the water and power ministry. The minister visited almost all wings of the ministry on Monday.