Tripping in the dark: Most of K-P without power as fault occurs at Mangla

No electricity till Friday evening; PESCO cites problem in power house

PESHAWAR:

Most areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including its provincial capital, were without electricity till Friday evening, affecting everyone’s day.

The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) spokesperson Shaukat Afzal said tripping in the Mangla Dam Power House created a severe shortfall of electricity. This resulted in prolonged power outages in K-P and Punjab.

Another Pesco official said it was a technical issue that caused the complete breakdown across K-P and in parts of Punjab. He added, “Around 30% of power supply has yet to be restored.”

The noise of generators filled the air and work was disrupted in many departments of the Civil Secretariat as generators ran out of fuel by the afternoon. “The government provides you a generator, but doesn’t care about the fuel,” quipped a senior official.

“I am sending documents for photocopies, but the people carrying them keep coming back empty-handed as there is no electricity,” said Mohammad Tariq, an official at the secretariat.

Tariq’s office has a small generator that is not even powerful enough to run a photocopier. Areas getting water from tube wells ran dry after a few hours.

“It was Friday prayers at the mosque and the water tank was empty,” added Tariq.

The power outages also disappointed people waiting for the Pakistan versus New Zealand T-20 cricket match. “I watched the match on my laptop, but the battery drained when New Zealand had 45 runs to win,” said Malik Luqman, a cricket enthusiast.

Mohammad Javed, a resident of Charsadda Road’s Landi Sarak, said the prolonged power outages were hardly a surprise. “WAPDA and Pesco are kings. The power breakdowns are excuses to conduct prolonged load-shedding,” he alleged.

Pesco spokesperson confirmed technical tripping at Mangla Dam Power House caused the shortfall of electricity. “The system cannot be restored at once and needs time,” he said. The spokesperson added feeders were restored one at a time and the process was completed by 4pm.



“The system was repaired by 2pm, but we had to start the feeders step by step as you cannot put load on the system at once,” he said.

Pesco insiders said the power breakdown affected the whole province.

Emergency measures

However, hospitals in the provincial capital did have power as managements shifted to the power lines directly from Warsak Dam.

According to Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) Public Relations Officer Farhad Khan, power supply remained suspended for 30 minutes and the generator was used as a backup. Soon after, the facility was powered through a direct line from Warsak Dam and did not face any problems.

Officials at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) said electricity supply was immediately transferred to the direct lines. LRH’s PRO Zulfiqar said the facility also had generators to deal with any unpleasant situation.

Hayatabad Medical Complex Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Waliur Rehman said the medical facility faced initial problems at hostels. However, the generators were later switched on and the hospital also had a direct power line from Warsak Dam.

Powerless Charsadda

Power outages created miseries for the people of Shabqadar as they were without electricity for an additional four hours. The area has been suffering through 20 hours of load-shedding for a long time as it is. They waited with baited breath for the electricity to return for a precious few hours, but remained powerless.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2016.