PESHAWAR: A light rain of just 3 millimeter and mild wind on Sunday night exposed the tall claims of “excellent performance” of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Ramazan as 90 percent of the provincial capital and over 300 villages in the district remained without power for over 15 hours after the collapse of some poles on the Charsadda Road.
The weather, as reported by the Met Regional Office, remained dry in most parts of the region. However, thunderstorm coupled with light rain and gusty winds occurred at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Mardan and Peshawar division.
In Peshawar, only 3 millimeter rain was recorded. However, the rain and wind wreaked havoc with the power supply system of the Pesco, particularly in Peshawar district where people ventured the hot and humid night of Sunday without light.
The power supply cut was mainly caused by the collapse of some poles at the Shero Jangi area of the Charsadda Road.
The residents complained that during the recent widening of the road the poles were replaced and these were not fixed properly.
One Ajmal disclosed that on one occasion he even asked those replacing these poles to use cement and other materials to fix the poles properly but in vain.
The power cut hit some divisions in the province and it struck most areas in district Peshawar at about 8:30 pm on Sunday which could not be restored till 12 noon Monday.
Residents in the affected areas soon took to the roads and remained outside their homes till sehar. They kept on calling the complaint centre of the Pesco, but the majority of them lamented that there was no one to respond.
In Peshawar, some areas including Dilazak Road, Madina, Colony, Rashidabad, Kishwarabad, Bus Stand, Momin Town, Sethi Town, Paharipura and even the interior city areas of Gadi Khana Chowk, Chowk Nasir Khan remained without power for over 15 hours.
On the outskirts of the city over 300 villages in Daudzai, Barozai and Khalsa areas faced the severe power cut in the June night. The power consumers faced extreme difficulties. The people offered Isha, Taraveeh and Fajr prayers amid the power breakdown. The power generators ran out of fuel and the UPS stopped working due to long outages. It led to water shortage as well.
When contacted by this scribe before Sehar at 1:18 am the Director-General Media of the Pesco, Shaukat Afzal, said that four feeders had tripped due to rain and gusty wind in Peshawar. One of these was restored and the other three would be restored in an hour, but it could only be restored at about 12:30 pm on Monday.
He said the power supply from several feeders of 11kv was suspended after the strong wind and rain that caused power supply cut to Swabi, Hazara, Bannu, Nowshera and Charsadda.
In Peshawar mainly four feeders were affected and the Superintending Engineer (SE) Samiullah Bangash remained in the field to supervise the power restoration work, he said.
The Pesco, in the meanwhile, issued a press release, saying a crisis management cell has been established at Wapda House Peshawar to deal with any emergency during the Eidul Fitr holidays.
Pesco Chief Executive Muhammad Amjad Khan will supervise the performance of the cell.
It said that the chief executive directed the field formations to ensure continued power supply during Eidul Fitr holidays.
In case of any emergency customers are requested to contact their concerned local Complaint Offices for emergent attendance of their complaints and in case of delayed response please contact Crisis Management Cell at Telephone No.091-9212010, 091-9212028