Most of Peshawar faces worst power outages

PESHAWAR: Tuesday was another tough day for the people of the provincial metropolis as they continued to reel under prolonged power loadshedding and frequent tripping, forcing them to come on roads to vent their anger at the government for its failures to improve the situation.

Most urban and rural parts of the Peshawar districts faced prolonged power cuts and breakdowns at a time when these areas were facing very hot weather. Some media reports suggested that the city had hot and humid weather a day before which had broken a 15 years record. The people from various parts of the interior city such as Gor Khatri, Gunj, Yakatoot, Gulberg, Pajagi and several other areas called The News and said there was no power supply to their areas for eight hours, which had made life miserable for them.

“On the one hand, we are facing such cruel loadshedding in this hot weather while on the other, this lack of power supply has created a water shortage in our area. There is no one to come to our rescue and improve the situation,” said Sardar Mahmoodul Hassan, a 40-year-old resident of Gunj Gate while narrating the ordeal of the citizens. There was a 10 hours long power breakdown in most parts of the Gulbahar Colony. The power consumers were seen and heard cursing the government, elected representatives from the area and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for making them suffer and go without power supply in this hot weather.

The situation was not different in other areas such as Dilzak Road, Faqirabad, Zaryab Colony, Nauthia and localities sited on the Kohat Road where people continued to go without electricity for longer hours.

There were protests on the second consecutive day on Tuesday. People in various areas took to the streets and turned to roads to protest the heavy loadshedding and frequent tripping.

There was a huge protest in Faqirabad. The people from different localities gathered at the main Zaryab Road and marched to the Government College Chowk where they staged a protest. The protest disrupted the traffic flow and created problems for the commuters on the road that links GT Road to Charsadda Road. The speakers were critical of Pesco and said the power transmission company had failed to ensure a smooth power supply to the city and other parts of the KP.

They said such huge was the power supply disruption that power generators were running out of fuel supply and UPS batteries get exhausted during all these times. Meanwhile, Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, a political leader Arbab Usman said the residents of Peshawar could not bear unscheduled loadshedding for long.

He said residents were going without electricity for longer durations in most parts of the city and this had created a drinking water shortage in most areas. The politician said the province was producing surplus petroleum and gas but these resources were not used for power generation and instead people were being forced to live lives without power supply. Arbab Usman had said he had worked in the United States and UAE in power production companies. He offered his services to the government for addressing the loadshedding issue.