No respite from power outages

Protesting citizens complain of disparity in supply to different areas

LAHORE:

Complaints of prolonged scheduled and unscheduled power outages are on the rise in the provincial capital, except areas falling in four constituencies of Punjab Assembly in which by-elections are around the corner.

In most urban areas, power outages for 10 to 12 hours daily are being experienced, while the situation in rural and suburban areas is worse.

Residents of the north Lahore region staged a protest demonstration against prolonged power outages on Canal Road. The chanted slogan against the government and the power utility company.

One of the protesters, Muhammad Hashir, said his neighbourhood had been without electric supply for three hours. Electricity was being supplied to his area for one hour after every three hours.

He said prolonged power outages had also created water shortage in the area.

He criticised the power company and the rulers for their apathy and said that even after an unprecedented increase the tariffs the government had failed to ensure consistent supply of the basic utility in hot and humid summer season.

Another citizen, Riasat Ali, highlighted that one of his family members who lived in PP-168, where by-polls are scheduled on July 17, had indicated that there had hardly been any load-shedding in his area during the past week.

“Earlier, we heard that the power utility companies do more load-shedding in areas having a high rate of electricity theft.

But in the Shairfs’ government, this is another kind of pre-poll rigging ahead of by-elections. The election commission or the courts should seek a report from the power utility company and probe what is the criterion for unequal power outages in the city,” he maintained.

Similar complaints were made by several citizens facing prolonged electricity load-shedding.

Even residents of private housing societies, which claimed during their launch that there would be no load-shedding in their areas, are facing prolonged power outages owing to limited availability of fuel to generate electricity.

Resident of one such big housing society on Raiwind Road, Rahat Sheikh, said prolonged power outages had become the fate of the residents and the management of the society was not paying any attention to their complaints. The society has jacked up its power tariff but is not providing power supply to its consumers.

He said residents had started to shift to other neighbourhoods to avoid ‘blackmailing’ of the society and end the agony.

An official of the Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO) disclosed that the power demand in the provincial capital had surpassed 5,000MW because of hot and humid climate.

The company is facing over 1,000MW shortfall.

He claimed that the company was doing up to five hours load-shedding in Lahore.

However, citizens complained of longer hours of power outages.

Responding to a question, the official did not comment on complaints that the power utility company was doing unequal load-shedding in the city on the instructions of the ruling parties ahead of by-elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2022.