Power cuts irk KP residents during Eid

TIMERGARA: As usual the Water and Power Ministry couldn’t keep its promise of ensuring uninterrupted power supply as the residents of most parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced long hours of loadshedding during Eidul Azha.
Power outages after every two hours continued in Lower Dir district during Eid. The situation was no better in other districts in the province.
The power outages also belied the statement of Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, who had pledged that no loadshedding would be observed during Eidul Azha.
The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) executive engineer for Lower Dir had told a press conference a few months back that recovery of electricity bills was 100 percent in Lower Dir district. Despite all this, the consumers were punished through excessive loashedding.
The local people complained that power supply remained suspended for hours in the Lower Dir district during Eid.
Though electricity supply was available in the district headquarters, Timergara town, it remained suspended for about 18 hours in Malakand Darra, which is located at a distance of three kilometres from Timergara.
Malakand Darra consisting of more than one and a half dozen villages and hamlets faced long hours of power outages during Eid.
Kifayat Khan, belonging to Malakand Darra, said that electric appliances like refrigerators couldn’t be run due to the low voltage. He said the residents couldn’t even charge cellphones or switch on the lights.
He complained that power supply was provided to Timergara town only as government offices were located there. He said power cuts were also carried out in Maidan and other parts of Lower Dir.
It is not known if the Pesco acted on its own instead of following the instructions from the water and power ministry. Or it is possible the ministry had issued the instructions to befool the people.
Even in Sarband, a village on the outskirts of Peshawar, the people had to face power breakdown for long hours.
Noor Muhammad from Sarband village told The News that power supply was suspended on Thursday afternoon and restored the next day.
In rural Mardan, power supply remained cutoff for every second hour, which meant that 12 hours loadshedding was carried out in Katlang and its surrounding localities. Consumers in Mardan and Takht Bhai tehsils also complained of long hours of loadshedding during Eidul Azha.
The situation in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency was no different.
A local, Munir Khan, said they had to face power breakdowns spanning from two to four hours at a stretch. He said that power fluctuation and low voltage damaged home appliances.
The people said they were fed up with empty rhetoric of the government, which couldn’t provide regular supply of electricity to the people during Eid despite repeatedly making promises. They said the ministers should avoid making tall promises.
The people complained that the government had no justification to carry out loadshedding during Eid as most of the industrial units, government offices and educational institutes were closed during the religious festival.