Lights out at Afghan refugee camp in Haripur

Residents blame WAPDA ‘contractor’ for power cuts

HARIPUR:

Jumma Gul came to Pakistan to escape the war in Afghanistan more than three decades ago. He has lived as refugee for the most part of his life. He has since gotten a proof of registration card that allows him to legally remain in Pakistan.

His family is one of over 500 households living in Afghan refugee camp number 12 on the outskirts of Haripur.

For the last month, the more than 7,000 people living in the camps have been without electricity for most of the day. And large parts of the night.

Gul and other residents blame the problem on Naeem, the man who they say has been contracted by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to provide electricity to the area.

Naeem along with his ‘henchmen’ have been controlling the electricity supply to the area for at least the last five years, says Haji Zar Khan, another resident.

They said that Naeem got the contract from Wapda, who the decision ‘’due to the poor bill recovery rate from the area’.

Naeem has since controlled the supply, sometimes even demanding extra charges other than the accrued electricity bills.

“For the last 22 days, he has taken down the link connecting to the area to the transformer,” says Gul.

The residents say there is no electricity from 8am to 5pm. In the evening, the electricity is disconnected again. It returns for a few hours and then absolute darkness in the night, says Gul.

They also held a protest to demand the area’s camp commander, Wapda officials and district administrators to abolish the contract system.

They added that the ‘wealthy’ individuals in the camp were also in cahoots with Naeem, who was charging the people extra to subside the power consumption of those wealthy individuals.

Most of the men at the protest are daily-wage labourers. They often worry about their families – often big – living in cramped homes without electricity at a time when the temperatures have soared.

Ali Jan, the custodian of the mosque, said the bills had more than doubled for the residents. The electricity issue is so dire that there isn’t enough power to pump water. “We often don’t have enough water to perform ablution,” he said.

Farmanullah Khan, another resident, said that they had always paid the bills, first to Wapda and then to Naeem, but they were still deprived of electricity.

The residents use the government-installed meter. However, the responsibility for revenue collection has to be contracted out to a private individual.

A few years ago, a conflict over bill payment and electricity disruption between residents and Naeem’s men resulted in seven deaths.

The residents urged the Hazara commissioner to take notice of the situation.

A representative of the contractor said that the problem was due to default on bills by the consumers living in the camps. “If all the refugees pay their electricity bills on time, a continuous supply of electricity can be ensured.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2023.