ISLAMABAD: Former Federal Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Omar Ayub Khan on Monday, slated the Punjab chief minister’s announcement of free electricity, terming it ‘a total gimmick’.

Taking to Twitter, the PTI leader said that Hamza Shehbaz’s announcement of waving 100 units consumers’ power bills is a total gimmick, adding that it was announced to influence the 20 constituencies election in Punjab on July 17th.

They r not paying the Power Producers & hence the Load Shedding. As the Govt does not have the ability to pay the subsidy, a reduction in rev will have to be met through increased Load Shedding. Punjab should brace itself for increased Load Shedding. This Govt is a Circus. 2/2

— Omar Ayub Khan (@OmarAyubKhan) July 4, 2022

He claimed that the government was not paying that Power Producers, which results in the load-shedding. “As the government does not have the ability to pay the subsidy, a reduction in [revenue] will have to be met through increased load shedding,” he added.

Also read: Punjab announces free electricity for households consuming 100 units monthly

The former federal minister also warned of more power outage, terming the provincial government a ‘circus’.

Further criticizing the announcement, Omar Ayub said: “The Punjab government will have to pay Rs160 billion as subsidy,” claiming that the ‘imported’ regime was begging the International Monetary Fund (IMD) for a tranche.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz announced to provide free electricity to households that consumed 100 units per month in the last six months.