Residents ransack Pindi WAPDA office

RAWALPINDI: With the mercury rising to over 45 degrees Celsius, locals ransacked an office of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in the Dhamial sub-division late on Saturday as they protested the prolonged power outages and low voltage.

Taking a page out of the book of protesters in Peshawar, residents reportedly attacked the Wapda office on Chakri Road at around 10pm on Saturday evening. The protesters stormed the entrance of the office, breaking down doors, smashing through windowpanes, and even damaging the phone lines which are used to receive complaints.

A Wapda official told The Express Tribune that around 30 to 40 protestors had barged into their offices tearing apart banners which had been hung outside the office bearing photos of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister
Shehbaz Sharif.

An official mini-truck of the authority was also smashed. The Wapda officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that it was the only van they had at the office and such was the damage it sustained that it cannot be used unless repairs are effected.



Moreover, he said that the four Wapda officials present in the office when the protesters attacked were forced out of the office.

A lineman in the office said that they did not know from which locality the protestors came from, adding that they had been receiving a large number of complaints about the suspension of electricity supply, damaged transformers, and low voltage from different localities of the garrison city including from Pir Mehr Ali Shah Town, Fatima Colony, Liaquat Colony, Ashraf Colony, Nai Abadi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Jorian, and Dhamial village.

The Wapda official further added that they had reported the attack to their superiors and had even lodged a criminal complaint with the Ranial Police Post of the Saddar Berooni police station.

Residents irked by outages

Meanwhile, residents said that while outages were routine, complaints of line damages had increased since the start of Ramazan.

Ansar Mahmood, who lives in Liaquat Colony, complained low voltage in his area was routine, especially during the evenings when the refrigerators stop making ice while the air conditioners stop working altogether.

“There is a dire need for installing a high-voltage transformer in the area,” Mahmood urged, adding that power cuts make life harder in Ramazan since it affects the preparation of iftar and sehri. Raja Yasir Aurangzeb, who lives in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, said that three of the elected representatives from his locality were oblivious to their problems.

He complained that there was no power in his locality since 1am on Saturday.

“The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units have also stopped working since there was no power to recharge their batteries,” he complained.

“Only those who have gas generators have been surviving the sizzling heat,” he said.

The lack of power also creates problems for water supply in the area, Aurangzeb cried.

According to the Wapda official, damaged transformers were responsible for the suspension of power supply to several areas.

While locals say they have filed several applications with the authorities for upgrading and even replacing transformers, little to no progress has been made on those applications, they lamented.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2017.