Rawalpindi The residents of different localities of the city faced acute shortage of water due to a long power breakdown of nine hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday. The inhabitants of many localities, particularly Adiala Road, Sher Zaman Colony, Defence Road, Tulsa Road, Gorakhpur, Gulshanabad, Askari 14, Askari 7, 502 Workshop, Lalazar and Tahli Moori, faced a long power breakdown, which resulted in acute water shortage. Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) Superintendent Engineer (Rawalpindi Circle) Muhammad Kaleem told ‘The News’ that they were busy in maintenance work. He said that public faced a long power breakdown because they had closed Chakri Grid Station and Samarzar Grid Station for maintenance. However, for a couple of days, the residents of Al-Mumtaz Colony, Adiala Road, Sher Zaman Colony, Defence Road, Tulsa, Pirwadhai, Gulistan Colony, Gorakhpur, Tahli Morri, Bakramandi, Mohanpura, Jamia Masjid Road, Mubarak Lane and several other localities have to purchase water tankers at the rate of Rs800 per tanker even in the winter season. The owners of water tankers also give the excuse that they are facing long hours of loadshedding and could not refill their tankers easily, therefore, they have no other option but to sell them at high rates. The majority of water filtration plants in the affected localities are without water as pumps are not working due to frequent power outages. The residents complained that unscheduled and prolonged power outages have disturbed their routine life even in winter.
