Lesco starts 3-7 hour loadshedding

LAHORE : The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) has started planned outages spanning over 3-7 hours a day.

According to the latest load management plan, three-hours power suspensions are being observed in category-I areas having up to 10 percent losses. Consumers living in category-II areas having power losses between 10.1 to 30 percent are facing 5 hours outages.

Six hours a day outages are being subjected to consumers residing in category-III areas having power losses between 30.1 and 40 percent. Likewise, people living in category-IV areas having losses between 40.1 and 60 percent are experiencing 7 hours a day outages. However, there is zero load-shedding in exempted and industrial feeders.

However, people blamed the power utility for resorting to 8 to 10 hours of loadshedding in various housing societies. They added that 2 to 3 hours of continuous power cuts were being witnessed in their areas.

According to an official, Lesc is being supplied 1,500mw of electricity against 2,200mw demand. The low supplies are blamed on a dip in power generation that has been marred by unavailability of natural gas and lack of funds for fuel. Sources claimed that transmission-related snags were also hindering the smooth electricity supply to the distribution network.

Outages have badly affected routine life in the provincial metropolis. The consequent disturbances in the water supply made life miserable in many localities. Even people living in posh societies, including DHA, are wary of hide-and-seek of the electricity supply. They were of the view that the water supply in various blocks was disrupted due to power suspension.

PhDs: Punjab University has awarded five PhD degrees to the scholars. Muhammad Waheed Mushtaq in Chemistry after approval of his thesis ‘Synthesis and Characterisation of Polymers/Ferrite Nano-Composites to Enhance their Application in Biomedical Field’, Tehmina Aslam in Political Science after approval of her thesis ‘Religious Militancy in Pakistan: Effects on Foreign Policy Towards India and Afghanistan (2001-2015)’, Zaheer Ahmad Nazar in Molecular Biology after approval of his thesis ‘Genetic Diversity Studies for Whip Smut Tolerance in Sugarcane Germplasm’, Shafaat Yar Khan in English after approval of his thesis ‘Subaltern Narratives: A Narratological Study of Anglophile Travel Narratives of the Subcontinent’ and Shamaila Samreen in Mathematics after approval of her thesis ‘Modeling of Curves and Surfaces for CAD/CAM’.