For the people of Turbat and the wider Makran region, summer no longer represents a seasonal change; it signals the beginning of severe electricity crisis. Every year, as temperatures rise, prolonged and unplanned loadshedding becomes a daily reality. While authorities frequently blame technical issues, the truth on the ground points toward deep-rooted corruption, deliberate mismanagement and exploitation.
In Turbat, power cuts of 12 to 18 hours a day are common during peak summer months. Students are unable to study, businesses shut down during crucial hours, hospitals struggle to function, and families are forced to endure extreme heat without relief. Despite this recurring crisis, there is no visible planning, no timely maintenance, and no effective strategy to meet increased electricity demand.
Instead of improving infrastructure or addressing technical shortcomings, the most frequent action by the authorities is cutting electricity connections of the public. Minor issues, delayed bills, and even baseless allegations are used as pretexts to cut supply.
This has created a systematic path of blackmail. Once a connection is undone, restoration often becomes impossible without paying unofficial money. Electricity, a basic necessity, has been turned into a tool of harassment and illegal income rather than public service.
Adding to the misery is another serious and widely reported issue: electricity meters installed for unit calculation are running unusually fast. Consumers repeatedly complain that even with minimal usage, their bills show excessively high units. For poor families, this is simply unaffordable.
Instead of investigating faulty meters or recalibrating them, complaints are ignored. People generally believe these fast-running meters are deliberately left unchecked to inflate bills, forcing consumers to pay beyond their capacity or face disconnection. This silent exploitation hits the poorest the hardest, pushing families deeper into poverty.
Meter tampering accusations, inflated bills, sudden disconnections and non-responsive complaint offices have become routine. Honest consumers are punished, while corruption flourishes unchecked. The absence of accountability has completely eroded public trust in the power department.
The combined effect of extreme loadshedding, forced disconnections, blackmail and unaffordable billing has crippled daily life in Makran. Until corruption is eliminated, faulty meters corrected, and management replaced with genuine service, the darkness in Makran, both physical and figurative, will persist.
Zubair Barkat
Turbat
