People protest against frequent power outages

Rawalpindi
A large number of residents of Rawalpindi city and cantonment, particularly Tariqabad, Adiala Road, Munawar Colony, Bakramandi, Defence Road and Gulrez, on Friday thronged the office of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) Superintendent Engineer (SE), Rawalpindi, to lodge their protest as they had been spending sleepless nights for a couple of days due to frequent power breakdowns.
The Superintendent Engineer (SE), Rawalpindi, however, tried to cool down the people and assured them of resolving all grievances on priority basis.
The residents of Adiala Road, Munawar Colony, Defence Road, Bakramandi and several other areas falling in Tariqabad Sub Division strongly protested against long hours power breakdowns and said that Iesco officials openly defying the orders of State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, who ordered for observing six hours loadshedding in the holy month of Ramazan. But we are facing long hours of loadshedding as usual, they claimed.
The residents of Munawar Colony, Adiala Road, Defense Road and Tariqabad complained against misbehaviour of concerned Iesco officials when they went to Adiala Sub Division office and XEN Tariqabad office. The concerned officers neither pick telephone of consumers nor resolve their genuine problems.
The helpless consumers are not only facing long hours of unscheduled loadshedding but also facing multiple problems like non-delivery of bills at home, delivery of bills after due date, sending bill to a consumer with a wrong reference number, etc.
When contacted, XEN Tariqabad Faizullah Khan told ‘The News’ that they are transferring maximum load to Adiala Grid Station therefore consumers are facing long hours of loadshedding. He admitted that majority of Iesco staff particularly ‘billing staff’ was incompetent.
Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) Superintendent Engineer (SE) Rawalpindi Raja Asghar Ali told ‘The News’ that government appointed us to resolve public issues. Misbehaving with consumers is not bearable at any cost, he warned. He assured they complainants of resolving their issues immediately.
Talking to ‘The News’ people expressed resentment over unscheduled loadshedding during Ramazan. Shabbir Ahmed Shaikh, a resident of Munawar Colony, said that electricity went out at around 8:15 p.m. on Thursday night because main transformer tripped. “We tried to contact concerned Iesco officials, but their telephones were off. We spent sleepless night and our children remained continuously crying the whole night,” he said.
Mubarak Shah, a resident of Adiala Road, said he tried to contact Iesco officials, but all of their telephone phones were off.
Residents of different areas also complained of water shortage due to unscheduled loadshedding.