LAHORE, May 19: People experienced another hot day in the city on Wednesday, as the Mercury shot up to 46.2 degrees Celsius. Increased power trippings and unavailability of water in many areas compounded problems. The Lesco faced 14 breakdowns and 220 trippings in the last 24 hours.

Two of the major breakdowns were reported at Garden Town and Allama Town grid stations, which triggered chain reaction and affected many feeders. On the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the main Allama Iqbal Town Grid Station remained out of order for at least five hours. However, residents of the areas claimed that power remained suspended for well over eight hours and played hide and seek throughout the day.

The Garden Town Grid Station went out of order and left the surrounding areas, Shahdman, Ravi, Green View grid station, and Kasur without electricity. The problem could not be solved till filing of this report in the evening.

"Wapda seems to have resigned to the fact that it cannot control power supply," said a resident of Canal View. For the whole night, there was no electricity and the officials concerned iterated lame excuses.

"The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has fixed some performance standards for all distribution companies, but none of them seems to be working," according to another resident.

Power outages particularly affected students preparing themselves for their examinations and sick people, said the residents. Shortage of water also caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people.