ISLAMABAD, JUN 19: Following in the footsteps of Sindh and Punjab, Islamabad has also decided to limit the operational hours of markets, shopping malls, wedding halls and restaurants in an effort to tackle the current energy crisis.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon shared the notification on Twitter early on Sunday.
The order stated that all shops, shopping malls, bakeries and confectionaries, offices, storerooms, godowns, warehouses and cattle markets would close at 9pm. Further, the timings of marriage halls, marquees and exhibition halls would be limited to 10:00pm.
All establishments (commercial or industrial), restaurants, clubs, tandoors, eateries, cafes, cinemas, theatres or other places of public amusement and public parks would close at 11:30pm, it added.
However, hospitals and laboratories, clinics, pharmacies and medical stores, petrol pumps, milk shops and other essential businesses were exempt from following the timings.
The notification, which also detailed the reasons for the move, stated that the order would come into force “with immediate effect” and would remain in place for two months.
The DC noted that the electricity demand had increased as a result of the current hot weather the country was experiencing which was subjecting critical infrastructure to extended loadshedding.
The notification stated that it was “necessary to enforce certain restrictions on non-essential businesses so that this prevalent emergency of the energy shortfall may be controlled in Islamabad Capital Territory”.
