Lights out: Citizens protest 20-hour blackouts in Sukkur

Ghotki, being one of the worst-affected districts, suffers 15 to 20 hours of load-shedding per day.

SUKKUR:

With temperatures soaring as high as 45 degrees Celsius, the duration of power outages in Sukkur stretches beyond 20 hours in some places. This has forced the residents to take to the streets as the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) has tried their patience to unprecedented levels.

Protests have erupted in several parts of upper Sindh. Residents demand the removal of corrupt and incompetent personnel in Sepco. Despite the official schedule of load-shedding being eight hours in urban areas and 12 hours in rural, the residents of Sukkur face between 12 and 20 hours of blackouts in urban and rural areas, respectively. Moreover, pole-mounted transformers have busted in many areas and their repair requires many days of patience combined with heavy bribes for the Sepco officials.

Business activity in the city has been adversely affected due to the power outages. Sukkur Small Traders Association president Jawaid Memon told The Express Tribune that long power outages have marred their businesses. He added that the traders of Sukkur will hold a meeting on May 13 to chalk out a strategy to counter the prolonged load-shedding. The problems of Sukkur do not end here. The scorching heat has brought along an acute shortage of clean drinking water. When Sepco is benevolent on Sukkur and the fans are rotating, North Sindh Urban Services Corporation takes its turn and the shortage of water supply looms large on the city.

A similar scenario prevails in other parts of Upper Sindh, with Ghotki being the worst-affected district as it suffers 15 to 20 hours of load-shedding on an average day. According to reports, the power supply to a feeder in Dad Leghari, which caters to the needs of around 60 villages, was restored yesterday after 12 days of power suspension. Despite the restoration, however, the residents are getting electricity supply for just two to three hours at night.

Similarly, Larkana faces between 12 and 18 hours of power outages in urban and rural areas, respectively, and there appears to be no respite for the residents.

There are various reasons for Sepco's inadequate performance. According to sources, recovery of bills is on the downside with only 50% of the bills being recovered. Furthermore, power theft is on the rise and instead of curbing it, Sepco officials are themselves involved in 95 per cent of power-theft cases, claimed one of the power utility's employees, who wished not to be named. He added that corrupt and incompetent officials have been posted on higher positions because of political influence, while honest and competent ones have been sidelined.

While Sepco chief executive officer Munawar Nazeer Abbasi could not be contacted, the public relations officer of Sepco, Noor Ahmed Soomro, told The Express Tribune that against the power utility was receiving only 430 megawatts against its demand of 980 megawatts. In response to a question regarding the unannounced load-shedding, he said that it was because of faults that were beyond their control as the transmission system had become almost obsolete. He added that the long hours of power outages were because of the heavy losses faced by the feeders. The power supply divide was not based on rural and urban divide anymore, he explained.

Meanwhile, water and power minister Abid Sher Ali visited Sukkur and held meetings with the Sepco authorities to review recovery and power-theft situations. Though he urged the authorities to improve the recovery position, he did not ask them to curb power theft. Instead, he announced that the feeders with heavy losses will face more load-shedding.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.