Prolonged power outages irk residents
The duration of unannounced load shedding in the garrison city and cantonment areas has reached eight hours while in the suburban areas it has exceeded 12 hours.
Residents said that the power outages intensify at night in urban and rural areas. This has caused an undue burden on fasting persons who face difficulties in preparing food during Ramazan.
The water supply system of the city has also been completely paralyzed by the excessive load shedding forcing residents to get water from remote areas. It has also affected tube wells, as during water delivery times, load shedding starts in the affected areas, which disrupts the water supply from the tube wells.
The power crisis has also been affecting the tailors' sewing work as Eidul Fitr is approaching soon and they have to fulfill a large number of orders from customers.
A resident of Gulistan Colony Waqas Ali and Asher Chaudhry of Muslim Town said that every two hours the power goes out for one hour and this disrupts business in the area. They said young children also suffer because of the extreme heat. They demanded that the government issue a proper schedule for load shedding and completely abolish unannounced load shedding.
Kamil Hassan of Dhok Elahi Bakhsh and Dawood Ahmed of Arya Mohalla said that water supply from tube wells was also cut off due to power outages. Ahmed suggested that Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) work out a schedule of load shedding in consultation with each other.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2022.