Locals bemoan 16-hour-long load-shedding. PHOTO: INP
At a number of locations, including Maryam Colony, Band Road, Township and other areas, locals continued protesting protest the load-shedding. A Township resident, Maria Khan, said unscheduled power outages had ruined routine life in the city. For the last couple of weeks, frequent power tripping and low voltage were the order of the day. As a result, there was a serious water shortage.
She pointed out that Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO) was previously conducting load-shedding every alternate hour, but the duration has increased along with the temperature of the city. “Citizens are getting electricity for half-an-hour and facing blackouts for two hours. In the scorching summer heat, it is really difficult for children to concentrate on their studies and homework in the absence of electricity,” she maintained.
Another citizen, Asad, told The Express Tribune that his household had to spend Tuesday night without electricity as a transformer in their neighbourhood was burnt. Despite repeated complaints to LESCO, officials failed to replace faulty transformer and forced citizens to bear the brunt of hot and humid summer night.
He further stated locals were facing 14 to 16 hours of load-shedding in the provincial capital and this was a source of a great deal of frustration. “Neither the power company nor the government is paying attention to the public’s miseries,” he bemoaned.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Shoaib Siddiqui submitted a resolution in the provincial assembly against power outages. In the resolution, he asked the federal government to immediately address outages by increasing power generation. He pointed out that power shortfall was touching 7,000 MW in the country and hurting citizens who had to face up 12 hours of load-shedding in urban localities and 18 to 20 hours in rural areas.
Siddiqui said frequent power outages had ruined business and routine life in the country. He added people were protesting on the roads against prolonged load-shedding and thousands of industrial workers had become jobless due to the lack of production because of these outages.
“People are being forced to pay heavy electricity bills but they hardly get any power for few hours”.
A LESCO official said the company was facing an unprecedented power demand in April as rising the temperature had broken all records. “Right now, it is beyond the LESCO’s capacity to ensure electricity for domestic and industrial consumers as per their requirement. The company is facing nearly 40% power shortfall when compared to demand, which was increasing with the rise in temperature.”
Power generation and demand statistics show the country is facing an energy shortfall of over 6,000MW. While the demand is touching around 19,000MW, the generation is hovering at around 12,000MW.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2017.
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