The federal government of Pakistan has announced to close the markets across the country at 8:30 pm and wedding halls at 10 pm, while the business community has rejected this decision.
The governments of Punjab province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also refused to implement this decision of the federal government.
This is not the first time that a government in Pakistan has made an energy saving plan and there have been no obstacles in its implementation.
Over the past 30 years, more or less every government has tried its own way to save energy, but none has been very successful.
Over the past 30 years, two approaches have been tried to maximize the use of sunlight to save energy, and both apparently failed.
According to experts, the main reason for this is that the government takes a final decision before informing the public about its decisions.
The people are not mentally ready to accept this decision of the government. That is why the plan fails every time.
When Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1994, there was a power crisis in the country.
Along with the Shahra Afaq program of 'Mere Gaon Mein Bijli Ai Hai', the government decided to switch off ACs and lights in government offices to save energy. At that time markets and marriage halls were not open till late at night.
Along with this, the Benazir government decided to move the clocks forward one hour in the country in imitation of European countries, but this decision was so publicly opposed that the government had to withdraw this decision.
After Benazir Bhutto, the Nawaz Sharif government also adopted the same method of energy saving to ensure minimum use of AC and lights in the offices, but how long would the bureaucrats tolerate this coercion.
Adopting the Benazir government's model of advancing the clocks, General Pervez Musharraf's government decided to advance the clocks by one hour in April 2002, but later this plan could not be implemented.
Despite the government's decision, millions of people did not change the time of their watches and due to public's lack of interest, the government also remained silent.
In the year 2008, the government of the People's Party was established and with each passing day, the energy crisis became more and more serious.
The PPP government had to bring out its old plan once again and this time it was decided to move the clock forward from April 2010 to August 2010, which was later extended to October 30, 2010, to some extent on this. Implementation was also implemented.
While performing journalistic duties in Islamabad, we must remember that except for very high-level official engagements, almost every program that was supposed to be held at 10 o'clock was shifted to 11 o'clock.
In this regard, the government of the People's Party at that time also admitted that the expected results of advancing the clocks could not be achieved.
"It has not been successful in making people aware that its main purpose is to make the most of the sunlight, but people have not changed their hours even though the clocks have changed."
In 2013, when the Nawaz Sharif government came, probably for the first time, the program to close the shops at 8 o'clock came out, which was rejected by the business organizations across the country and despite the efforts of the government, the idea of closing the shops early failed.
In this regard, business organizations say that 'the time of arrival of customers is after the evening because no matter what happens, people are busy with their work till the evening and after getting free from them, they go out for shopping.'
"According to the government's decision, the shops should open early in the morning. If there are no buyers, where will the income come from?"
According to the traders, it will be a waste of both time and energy because not only lights are lit in the shops, but there are many other things that run on electricity.
Prime Minister Imran Khan's government also wanted to carry forward this decision of previous governments, but could not take any major decision except keeping the AC off in government offices till 11 o'clock.
In Imran Khan's government, it was also advised to wear only pant-shirt or waistcoat with shalwar kameez instead of pant-coat during summer season so that they can spend part of the day without AC.
It should be noted that in the history of Pakistan, the implementation of the government's decision to keep shops closed was made possible due to government shutdowns during the Corona lockdown.
Otherwise, the government machinery can be used to force traders to close their shops for a few days and weeks, but there is no chance of success on a permanent basis.
In this regard, former bureaucrat Abdul Rauf Chaudhry said in a conversation with Urdu News that 'every government has been giving more or less the same plan regarding energy saving.'
"To the extent of government offices, the implementation was also limited to the offices of lower-ranking employees and the ACs of the offices of high-ranking officers were hardly switched off."
According to him, the government should first determine and announce the new working hours of the public and private sectors on a regular basis. To implement this, a big awareness campaign should be conducted at the public level.
The trend of staying out late at night and being busy in shopping should be changed. Success is possible only if the business community is taken into confidence and all the provincial governments also stand with the decision of the federation.
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