Load-shedding: Water shortages in city as tube wells come to a halt

Residents of Peshawar, surrounding areas plead to govt to control load-shedding and low gas pressure.

PESHAWAR:

Residents of Peshawar and surrounding areas have appealed to the government to control load-shedding and low gas pressure, which has brought many businesses to a standstill.

Residents of Warsak Road, Rasheedabad and Dalazak Road said they experience up to 10 hours of outages, while residents in Gulbahar, Shaikhabad, Malakabad, Pajaggi Road and Saeedabad have complained of low gas pressure.

Due to the outages, Gulbhar and Shaheen Muslim town are also suffering from water shortages. Tube wells are shut by sunrise and after 6pm because there is no electricity.

“The government has not done anything to solve these problems. Elected representatives only claim that the electricity problem will be resolved, but nothing has been done so far,” said resident Nabi Shah.

Bakery owners, tailors and other vendors whose work depend on steady supply of electricity and gas are worst affected.  Niaz Ali Khan, a tailor on Dalazak Road, who was sitting idle because there was no electricity, said their business has been severely affected. “We are unable to stitch clothes on time which angers and annoys customers,” he said, adding they cannot afford generators because of the high cost of fuel.

Some tailors have increased the prices of stitching by Rs50 because they run their shop on generators.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2013.