Markets and shopping centers in the federal capital will now close at 9 pm, according to a statement from the district administration.
As per the notification, wedding halls in Islamabad are to close at 10 pm while hospitals, medicine shops, pharmacies, petrol and CNG stations, bakeries, milk shops, greengrocers, tandoors, and bus stops are exempted from the reduced timings.
For the time being, eateries, clubs, parks, cinemas, and factories will close at 11.30 pm.
The decision follows similar announcements by the governments of Sindh and Punjab to shut shops down to save energy due to the power crisis across the country.
The Chief Minister of Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz, announced during a meeting with representatives from trade associations on Saturday that markets across the province will close at 9 pm as part of the energy conservation efforts in the wake of a national power crisis.
The coalition government has already declared that measures of the sort are necessary because of the persistent power outages and load-shedding to reduce the shortfall between the demand and supply of electricity.
On 7 June, the federal cabinet decided to utilize a national strategy to take effective measures to reduce load-shedding by conserving energy, and preventing and lessening the impacts of anticipated energy shortage in the country.
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