Ill planning: Power supply to Swat villages disconnected
Swat River floods, uprooting several electricity poles .
KABAL:
Many villages of Kabal and Matta tehsils of Swat district were left without electricity on Wednesday when flooding in the Swat River uprooted several electricity poles.
Melting glaciers in the summer cause the river to flood every year. The overflowing water enters villages and destroys agricultural lands.
The increase in the river’s water level uprooted several electricity poles situated close to the riverbank and left villages, including Kanju, Dherai, Dam Ghar, Koza Bandai, Bara Bandai, Ningolai and Aligrama, without electricity.
Izhar Khan, a resident of Kanju said, “The lack of electricity has been causing us problems during Iftar and Sehr.”
Locals said the area’s elected representatives and the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) had been informed but they have not fixed the problem.
Ghafoor Khan, a resident of Aligrama, said the utility company and elected representatives had been informed about possible flooding days in advance but they did nothing and now electricity has been disconnected.
According to Pesco officials, work on the reinstallation of the poles has begun and power would be restored soon in the affected villages.
The 2010 floods in Swat washed away protection walls along both sides of the river. Due to this, several villages are inundated and hundreds of acres of agricultural land is destroyed every year the river floods. The Swat River began flooding last month and on June 20 it washed away several acres of standing crops. Many villagers have already evacuated their houses and shifted to higher ground.
The district government began constructing protection walls along the riverbank on an emergency basis on the directives of Swat Deputy Commissioner Mahmood Aslam Wazir last month.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2014.
Many villages of Kabal and Matta tehsils of Swat district were left without electricity on Wednesday when flooding in the Swat River uprooted several electricity poles.
Melting glaciers in the summer cause the river to flood every year. The overflowing water enters villages and destroys agricultural lands.
The increase in the river’s water level uprooted several electricity poles situated close to the riverbank and left villages, including Kanju, Dherai, Dam Ghar, Koza Bandai, Bara Bandai, Ningolai and Aligrama, without electricity.
Izhar Khan, a resident of Kanju said, “The lack of electricity has been causing us problems during Iftar and Sehr.”
Locals said the area’s elected representatives and the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) had been informed but they have not fixed the problem.
Ghafoor Khan, a resident of Aligrama, said the utility company and elected representatives had been informed about possible flooding days in advance but they did nothing and now electricity has been disconnected.
According to Pesco officials, work on the reinstallation of the poles has begun and power would be restored soon in the affected villages.
The 2010 floods in Swat washed away protection walls along both sides of the river. Due to this, several villages are inundated and hundreds of acres of agricultural land is destroyed every year the river floods. The Swat River began flooding last month and on June 20 it washed away several acres of standing crops. Many villagers have already evacuated their houses and shifted to higher ground.
The district government began constructing protection walls along the riverbank on an emergency basis on the directives of Swat Deputy Commissioner Mahmood Aslam Wazir last month.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2014.