The News

 Rising mercury, power outages cripple life in KP

Monday, July 19, 2010
By Bureau report
PESHAWAR:Electricity loadshedding and low voltage have paralysed routine life astemperature crossed 42 degree centigrade in many areas of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa including the provincial capital during the last couple ofdays.

Maximum temperature recorded on Sunday was 42 centigradein Peshawar with 52 per cent humidity in the air. It was 44 degreecentigrade in Bannu, 42 in DI Khan and Chitral, 34 in Abbottabad and 37in Saidu Sharif in Swat, while the Met Office forecast no chances ofrain in the province except in Hazara division.

TheMeteorological Department’s latest forecast says mainly hot and dryweather is expected in most parts of the province during the next 24hours. Rain is, however, expected at isolated places in Peshawar, Kohatand Hazara today, though its city weather chart shows rainy days inmost parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday and Thursday and inPeshawar and Swat on Tuesday as well.

The hot and humid weatherhas already paralysed routine life and business activities and theelectricity hide-and-seek have added to people’s miseries. Consumers inthe province, including the provincial capital, are not only sufferingdue to power outages but also owing to low voltage.

Electricityremains suspended for eight to 10 hours on a daily basis in urban andup to 18 hours in rural areas of the province against the Pescoloadshedding schedule of seven and nine hours for urban and ruralareas, respectively. As per Pesco statement, the province is facingpower shortfall of 880 megawatt.

Besides electricitysuspension in many localities of the provincial capital like Gulberg,Al-Hajj Colony, Dilazak Road, Momin Town, Qamardin Garhi, Swati Pathak,Sethi Town, voltage in a number of areas is too low to operate evenelectric fans.

Same complaints were also received from HayatabadTownship, Shaheen Muslim Town, Faisal and Corporation and Gulshancolonies. Residents of Dilazak Road staged protest and blocked roadagainst power outages on Saturday while the students of University ofPeshawar and traders also warned of protests if loadshedding was notreduced.

Complaints of electricity outages were also receivedfrom other districts including Charsadda, Mardan, Malakand and DirLower. Consumers complained that power suspension was causing watershortage and damage to electric appliances besides hardships ofspending time without fans in hot weather.

Absence of rainsand rising temperature become unbearable when power supply remainsdisrupted and that too without any schedule. Power disruption in urbanareas crosses eight hours daily and up to 18 hours in rural areas ofthe province, especially at nights that force consumers to come out ofhomes and sit or roam on streets.

On Sunday, roads in theprovincial capital wore a deserted look and vehicular traffic remainedthin as people opted to stay indoors. Electricity disruptions withintervals continued all the day and night in many localities of thecity and cantonment areas.