Unannounced and unwelcome: power cuts compounding locals’ problems

Electrical appliances such as ovens and heaters rendered useless.

GILGIT:

For the most part, Maryam, 40, a housewife leads a comfortable life. Unlike scores of other women in the area, she operates modern electrical appliances for carrying out daily domestic chores.

However, unannounced power cuts make things difficult for her.

“The power cuts often exceed 20 hours a day and it becomes extremely hard to do anything without electricity,” she said. Pointing to a pile of dirty laundry and unwashed utensils, she said that it is no use owning electric appliance when one cannot use them owing to power cuts.



“We can never tell when the light will come and for how long. Winters are harder to bear than any other season. This is just an added problem for especially the housewives who have to manage multiple tasks,” she said.

Little does she care about whether the water in lakes and glaciers recedes in winters due to freezing temperatures or the government is plagued by corruption.

She does, however, realise that life becomes hard to deal with during winters in this mountainous, landlocked region of nearly 1.5 million people, majority of who are struggling below poverty line.

“The situation goes from bad to worse as time passes by,” she said, adding “there are more and more days without power.”



Gilgit experiences extended power cuts from November to April every year. More than 50,000 users depend on the power generation units — Naltar, Guroo, and Kargah — for supply of electricity.

“As winter comes, the demand for power increases manifold,” Tajdar Hussain, an engineer at Water and Power department of the provincial government, said.  “The current production of power is about 13MW while the demand is 34 MW,” he added.

Hussain further said that besides cooking, the power is also utilised for heating and insulation purposes. An increased electricity use has led to widening of the gap between production and consumption.

The freezing cold results in a shortage of water in the water channels.

Adapting to power outages during winters is a major challenge for the residents. Following introduction of Self Rule and Empower Order 2009, Gilgit-Baltistan has made considerable progress on the political front, said Naeem Ali, an economist from the region. However they have yet to find a solution to the power crisis in the region, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.