Prolonged power cuts make life miserable

Residents took to the streets, set tyres on fire and blocked roads to disrupt traffic flow

LAHORE: People of Lahore are facing a lot of problems due to prolonged loadshedding of up to six to eight hours.

Several areas, such as Iqbal Town, Rehmanpura, and Muslim Town were without electricity till 2am.



With no electricity in this intense heat, residents also faced a shortage of water. Later, they took to the streets in protest, set tyres on fire and blocked roads to disrupt the traffic flow.

According to the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), the electricity shortfall had reached 3,000 MW. At present, the requirement is 21,000 MW whereas only 18,000 MW is being generated. Hence, the prolonged loadshedding is being carried out in the city. In areas where electricity theft is rampant, around four to six hours of loadshedding is being carried out.

A LESCO official said that Friday night's fault was controlled. However, due to the routine technical faults and system overload, they were still receiving complaints. Due to the decreased level of water in Mangla Dam, the generation of electricity was being affected, he added.

On Thursday, Lahorites continued to suffer prolonged power outages and frequent tripping as authorities failed to completely fix a technical fault which emerged on Wednesday evening. The fault occurred at the Bund Road Grid Station. The resulting breakdown had persisted for some 20 hours. This was the second-worst breakdown suffered by the provincial capital in the last two months.



Locals claimed these areas faced frequent power outages on Thursday due to the sheer negligence of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company and LESCO.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2018.