Socrates wrote, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” In Peshawar, this is quite literal.
Students in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) who are appearing in MA and MSc examinations are facing a huge problem due to prolonged load shedding in the province.
Irum, a private candidate, told The Express Tribune that excessive power outages severely affected her studies, as she could not study at night without any lighting.
Another student, Quratulain, said she did not perform well in her Urdu paper because she could not prepare due to the amount of load shedding at her house. “How can we study without electricity? These power cuts have made our lives miserable,” she exclaimed.
Saira, another student said, “I am a working woman and can only study at night. However, due to the duration of load shedding I cannot study at all.”
“We want to make our futures bright, but Wapda authorities are bent upon making them dark,” said Rahmatullah, another private student. “We can’t study at night due to power outages, while during the daytime we have to give our exams in sweltering heat as there is no power at our universities either,” he remarked.
The power crisis has not only affected students, but is also affecting the business community in K-P.
Hameed, a retailer, said that his business had come to a standstill due to prolonged load shedding. “We have requested the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) authorities to ensure smooth supply of electricity on several occasions, however, the authorities have not responded in a positive manner.
An official at the K-P Chamber of Commerce and Industry told The Express Tribune that 1,064 industries had been shut down owing to load shedding in the province. “Earlier, factories were being supplied with 140 MW of electricity. However, now only 52 MW are being supplied to them. Similarly, the provision of gas to the industrial sector has decreased from 79 million cubic feet to 22 million cubic feet, due to which the industrial sector is being severely affected,” he explained.
He further said that 56,000 labourers were employed in various industries. However, due to the energy crisis, almost 32,000 of them had been sacked.
According to a statement issued by Pesco, the province is facing a shortfall of 1,422 MW. It said Pesco was carrying out 800 MW load shedding, while the remaining power cuts in K-P were
being carried out by the Regional Control Centre in Islamabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2011.
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