Dargai consumers blast unannounced loadshedding

Mardan village dwellers forcibly stop work on gas pipeline

DARGAI: The villages in Malakand district supplied electricity from the two feeders at the Harichand grid-station have been without power for the last three days, consumers said.

The consumers complained that all their pleas to the officials of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to solve the problem have fallen on deaf ears. They said that Malakand district administration has been trying to help, but Pesco authorities remained unmoved.

According to the consumers, the Pesco network in the area and the Harichand grid-station faced shortage of staff and this was one of the reasons for delay in carrying out repair and maintenance work. They said all their complaints remain unanswered.

A consumer said the disruption in electricity supply for the last three days had caused shortages of drinking water supply and made life miserable for the local population. He pointed out that Ramazan started in Dargai tehsil on Saturday, but the faithful were subjected to suffering on the first day of the month of fasting due to lack of electricity.

The consumers recalled that electricity supply was disrupted for more than a week recently from the Harichand-1 and Harichand-2 feeders. They said even otherwise there is unannounced loadshedding for hours in the area.

When asked if the excessive loadshedding was due to power theft in the area, a consumer claimed they are regularly paying the bills despite the fact that they aren’t been supply electricity most of the time.

Our correspondent in Mardan adds: The residents of several villages in Mardan district forcibly stopped work on a gas supply pipeline as they complained they are being denied the facility.

Speaking to this scribe, the residents of Kaloshah, Kalo, Salo, Serai and Toot Shah villages in Lundkhwar said that the authorities damaged their crops and lands by digging the soil for gas supply to Swat district but they were denied the natural gas facility.

“The villages of Baizai Kharki and Hathian, located at two ends of our area, have been provided natural gas supply, but we in the middle remain deprived of this facility,” stated Sher Bahadur, chairman of Mian Essa union council in Lundkhwar.

A social worker, Hazrat Karim, from Kaloshah village, said that they faced problems, particularly in winters when the area has chilly weather. He added that the local women also faced difficulties in cooking food and need natural gas.

Another villager, Abdullah, said that gas has never been provided to them while on the other hand they were subjected to massive electricity loadshedding.

“If natural gas is supplied to our area, it can also solve the problem of electricity. People would definitely buy gas-run power generators to make life easy, particularly for the elderly and children, and use the electricity generators during the long hours of loadshedding,” he argued.