Main power line crumbles as river erodes tower in Chitral

CHITRAL: Electricity supply from the Golen Hydropower Project to the national grid was abruptly cut off after a key transmission tower near Ayun was swept away by a surging river.

The incident has severed the main power line, leaving restoration efforts dependent on emergency technical support from outside the district.Though technical staff has been called in from the down-district areas, a replacement tower has not yet been installed.The Golen Hydropower Project was initiated in 2011 and the project was completed in 2018. With a generation capacity of 108 megawatts, the project was officially inaugurated in January 2018 by then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Earlier, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had promised the people of Chitral that 35 megawatts of electricity from this project would be allocated to the region through a dedicated grid station. While a grid station was eventually built in Juti Lasht, the succeeding PTI government failed to ensure direct supply. Instead, electricity is being routed through the national grid and then back to Chitral, a move widely criticised by local residents.The people of Chitral continue to demand that electricity from the Golen project be supplied directly via the local grid station in Juti Lasht, as originally promised.