PESHAWAR: Excessive outages, power tripping and low voltage during and after Eidul Azha caused massive damage to electric appliances and made life miserable for the consumers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It also belied the government’s tall claims of ensuring ‘zero’ power loadshedding during the Eid holidays.
The federal government had announced days before Eidul Azha that there would be no power outages during the Eid holidays. Federal minister Omar Ayub Khan claimed in his Twitter message that electricity faults would be corrected within no time as quick response teams for the purpose have been constituted and would remain on duty round the clock to respond to every complaint at the earliest.
But the situation on the ground proved to be completely different. The worst power outages and low voltage were seen and reported throughout Eid and also during the following days.
“Peshawar city is facing low voltage since the first day of Eid, ACs and refrigerators aren’t working. So much for no loadshedding claims during Eid holidays. Omar Ayub Khan must look into this,” tweeted senior journalist Ismail Khan.
Fed up with the frequent cuts of power supply, people in different parts of the province took to streets to stage protests against the government and the Pesco authorities. The protestors blocked highways to press the government to stop the endless hours of loadshedding. In many cases, the authorities assured the protestors that the power outages would end to get the protestors dispersed and open the roads. But after ‘deceiving’ the protestors through hollow claims, the power suspension was doubled the following night in what the people of the affected localities believed was meant to punish them for taking to the streets.
Protest demonstrations were held in Peshawar, Mardan and other cities and towns elsewhere in the province. The people were angry at the authorities. They noted that this was the worst ever power crisis due to hours of loadshedding and low voltage.
“Power comes for just one hour and is then suspended for four to five hours. There is no schedule for the power suspension. The voltage also remained low during the last whole week,” said Mohammad Zubair, a resident of Takht Bhai.
Another resident of Takht Bhai said that due to the frequent outages and low voltage not only the sacrificial meat got wasted, but precious appliances like refrigerators and air-conditioners were damaged.
The people in Takht Bhai took to the streets and blocked the main Malakand Road for several hours. The protestors were of the opinion that they were regularly paying bills and also there were no cases of power theft in the area, but even then they were subjected to loadshedding.
“Even the Pesco officials acknowledge that recovery from our feeder is 100 percent and power theft is zero. But still the loadshedding in our area is the worst, forcing us to spend sleepless nights,” said Haji Mohammad Yahya while talking to The News.
Protests were also held in Katlang town of Mardan district. The protestors vented their anger against those at the helm of affairs. They were critical of the government as it had failed to improve electricity supply. Some of the consumers participating in the protest said the previous government had overcome the problem of loadshedding.
The consumers claimed that the Pesco authorities suspended electricity supply and gave unconvincing reasons for the power cuts. They pointed out that power supply was cut when it rained.