Power suspension troubles residents of Takhtbhai

PESHAWAR: The contentious power suspension to Takhtbhai tehsil of Mardan district has led to water shortage and forced the dwellers to spend a sleepless night.

Power supply to the area was suspended on Wednesday morning and could not be restored till the filing of this report.

Fazal Rahim, a resident of Takhtbhai bazaar, said that the power supply to the area was suspended early in the morning and could not be restored since then. “We hoped the power would be restored in a few hours but it was the otherwise. There is no water for drinking in houses and ablution in mosques,” he added. He said the residents were forced to spend a sleepless night due to hot weather and flies. “The patients and children are affected the most by the power breakdown,” he added. He said that power was restored for only 30 minutes the other night.

Muhammad Zubair said that the officials of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) could not be approached to get informed about what had really caused the power suspension. “All the contact numbers of the Pesco offices and officials did not respond. There are reports that some maintenance work is being carried out at the Mardan grid station and the power would remain suspended for 72 hours. We don’t know about the actual position,” he added. “How can they suspend the power for 72 consecutive hours,” he wondered.

He said that power was only restored for three minutes at 8:22pm and then disconnected.

He said that at first excessive loadshedding was started a week ago and now there is no power for the past 36 hours.

When contacted, Director General Public Relations Pesco Shaukat Afzal said that the power was disconnected due development work on lying down a new transmission line from Batkhela grid station to Mardan district for emergency cover. He said that previously there were no such arrangements to provide power to Mardan if the power system there developed a fault. “This new transmission line is being laid down to provide electricity to the area in case the power system in Mardan developed a fault,” he added. He said the development work affected power supply to Chakdara, Malakand and Takhtbhai.

He rejected the complaints if the power supply was suspended on a regular interval, adding that power was restored after every few hours. He said that the work on laying down the new transmission line would be completed today Thursday.