Staff Reporter
Peshawar
The consumers of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) Tuesday continued protests and blocked several roads against unscheduled 18 to 22 hours load shedding in the provincial capital and other parts of the province on daily basis from last one week. The protesters in provincial capital staged protests on Warsak road, Hashtnagri, Sorzai, Mosazai, Khyber Super Market, Ring road Lahori, Kachi Mohallah, Zargarabad, Nazar Garhi, Atta Mohammad Garhi, Sikandarpura, Gulberg and other areas and blocked the roads for all kind of traffic. They were carrying placards inscribed with slogans against WAPDA and PESCO for failing to resolve the issue.
The protesting consumers mainly traders, businessmen, students, elderly persons said that the PESCO was carrying out 18 to 22 hours unscheduled loadshedding from last week on daily basis in this hot season, adding that loadshedding at night has made life miserable for them. They said power fluctuation caused damage to electronic appliances while the students who were already suffering due to COVID-19 situation failed to attend their online classes.
The domestic consumers complained shortage of water supply and availability of cold water in this hot season. They warned to stage sit-in in front of PESCO headquarters and provincial assembly if the uninterrupted power supply would not be ensured. It is to mention here that KP government Spokesman Kamran Bangash also met with PESCO chief Jabbar Khan the other day against the issue and asked him to resolve the problem. The PESCO chief assured to address the issue on priority basis.
Meanwhile, PESCO spokesman Shaukat Afzal said that due to severe heat wave power distribution system got overloaded and caused frequent tripping. He said that due to heat, low voltage and low frequency problems and to save the system from total broke down 50 percent load management has been started on 500 KV,220 KV and 132 KV Grid stations in Peshawar, Swat, Swabi and Bannu.
In hot and humid weather of August, eight times power outages in Cantt Sub Division of Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) in a single day on Monday created lots of troubles for resident. Electricity breakdown from 30-45 minutes for one time in Waqas Town, Ahsan Colony, Green Town, Chungi No 1, Jamilabad and other areas began at noon and continued till late on Monday night, informed residents.
Faheem Soomro, a resident of Green Town told APP that he suffered a massive heart attack a month ago and doctors recommended him complete rest. ‘Yesterday, I faced many difficulties to keep myself cool in these harsh weather conditions. We paid Rs 50,000 bill for July and unfortunately MEPCO is teasing us by power outages, ‘he deplored.
