ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while chairing the 16th Cabinet Committee meeting on energy at the PM House on Thursday, expressed displeasure over unscheduled loadshedding in the beginning of Ramazan.

The premier advised that preparations should always be made to cater to the possibility of unfavorable weather conditions.

Secretary for Water and Power Younus Dagha briefed the meeting on electricity load management during the holy month of Ramazan.

He informed the participants that loadshedding during Ramazan is being carried out as per the approved plan with no loadshedding at Sehr and Iftar hours, except for the first day of the holy month when an unprecedented heatwave entered the southern part of the country.

The heatwave was followed by thunderstorms in a few parts of the country which disturbed the transmission and distribution system of electricity.

As the death toll in Sindh rose to 1,011 in the last five days caused by the heatwave, there was thunder in the parliament as the federal government was questioned about power cuts and the demand and supply of electricity.

Read: Khursheed Shah thunders in Parliament, hits out at federal govt for power outages

During yesterday's National Assembly session, Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah in an emotional speech centred on the overwhelming loss of life in Karachi which he linked with power cuts, took the floor after Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif had furnished the House with details of power supply and shortage across the country.

A detailed discussion pertaining to the power supply situation in Karachi and matters related to K-Electric also took place during the meeting today. The participants expressed their concerns that K-Electric is not generating electricity at full capacity and is taking 650 megawatts from the national grid instead.

PM Nawaz directed that in addition to increasing supply of electricity, measures should also be taken to upgrade the transmission and distribution infrastructure simultaneously.

The meeting which lasted for more than three hours, was also updated on the Matiari-Lahore transmission line and it was brief on transmission and distribution projects for 2015-18 including hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and thermal power plants.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was present at the meeting along with Federal Minister for Finance, Muhammad Ishaq Dar; Federal Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Muhammad Asif; Federal Minister for Information, Pervaiz Rasheed; Federal Minister for Petroleum, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal and Federal Minister for Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafique as well as other senior federal and provincial government officials.

During last week's cabinet meeting, it was decided that a committee will be formed to look into the possibility of privatising the Neelum-Jhelum Power Project.

PM Nawaz had expressed his displeasure over undue delays in the project which also resulted in an increase in costs.

Read: Committee to analyse privatisation of Neelum-Jhelum Power Project

The committee was formed to also look into the possibility of entering into a partnership with investors to ensure its timely completion. The committee will be tasked to present its report within three months.