Pindi plagued by prolonged power cuts

Frequent load-shedding affects water supply, operations of tube wells

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi has been witnessing up to 12 hours of unannounced load-shedding amidst sizzling heat.

The unannounced load-shedding of electricity has badly disrupted daily routine and businesses with workers working in small industry facing serious economic hardships.

The load-shedding has also badly disrupted work in offices and educational institutions. Citizens said that they were facing a dire situation due to frequent power outages and load-shedding.

The power cuts have also badly affected water supply situation in the city and owing to the non-operation of tube wells, filtration plants have dried up. Due to the continuous disruption of power supply, the operations of tube wells in the city and Cantonment areas have been affected, creating a short supply of water for the residents.

Power outages in areas facing with line losses have gone up to 18 hours. On the other hand, 12 hours of load shedding has brought the operation of small industries to a standstill with hundreds of workers sitting idle amidst high demand for food stuff.

The demand for UPS batteries and generators has also gone up with the increase in power load-shedding. Shops selling UPS batteries on College Road remain crowded with buyers.

Owing to the power outages, Rawalpindi city and Cantonment areas have been facing severe water shortages and citizens were forced to fetch drinking water from far away locations.

On the other hand, IESCO sources said that due to the heat intensity, the demand for electricity has also increased many folds.

They said that the gap between supply and demand has started widening which was being managed through load-shedding.

On the other hand, due to the increasing complaints of citizens about unannounced load-shedding in the city and Cantonment, the complaints cell of IESCO has stopped attending telephone calls.

The Water and Sanitation Agency(WASA) Rawalpindi on Tuesday urged citizens to use water judiciously as the agency faces a water shortage because of the increase in demand and power loadshedding.

A couple of days ago, WASA Managing Director (MD) Raja Shoukat Mehmood said the officers concerned had been directed to make all possible arrangements to ensure water supply in affected areas through tube wells but the operation of the tube wells was also affected due to electricity loadshedding.

He added that there were problems with the water supply due to continuous power outage from 10 am to 2 pm. He said that the water supply from Rawal Lake Filtration Plant had become impossible and the water supply from Khanpur Dam was also affected.

It was necessary to run motors for water supply along with water treatment, he said. The load-shedding was affecting the operation of the pumping stations and water could not be stored in storage tanks, he said. He urged citizens to be careful using water.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2022.