22 July 2004	Thursday	04 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, July 21: Lahore and Gujranwala dwellers may have to do without electricity for 12 hours on Thursday as Wapda connects the newly constructed Barotha-Rawat transmission line with the national grid.

Wapda has arranged a 12-hour shutdown from 5am to 5pm for the purpose. It completed work on the transmission line a couple of days ago. The only consolation point for consumers of both GepCo and LesCo is that Wapda has cared to announce the schedule and save people the sudden shock of a 12-hour power failure.

However, officials of Wapda and both distribution companies are putting up a brave face and hoping that the shutdown may be avoided or at least its severity lessened. Residents of both cities fear that any addition to the power load on the national distribution system may cause further problems for them.

It may cause the distribution system to collapse. The system is in a deep mess already, as could be adjudged by the frequency and magnitude of trippings and the load-shedding.

The authority had planned to connect the line with the national grid on Wednesday but delayed it at the eleventh hour due to unavailability of additional water from Mangla Dam for power generation to compensate for the power loss at Tarbela.

A Wapda official said on Wednesday that the Indus River System Authority had refused a request for an additional 22,000 cusecs from Mangla for reasons best known to it. The Irsa secretary, however, claimed that no decision had yet been made on Wapda's request.

He confirmed that Wapda had demanded additional releases from Mangla for power generation and said "a decision would be taken after studying all the pros and cons of the demand, and the request for additional releases up to 22,000 cusecs a day would be met."

LesCo Chief Executive Bashir Zahid claimed that the city would not face any serious shutdown because two 500-KV transmission lines were being connected for dispersal of power of Barotha Power Station.

However, people covered by the two distribution companies might have low voltage in case additional water releases from Mangla were not available for additional power generation. He maintained that the power supply situation would improve once the Rawat-Lahore Transmission Line was connected with the Barotha-Rawat Transmission Line.

Meanwhile, the Punjab irrigation authorities on Wednesday increased their indent from Mangla from 12,000 cusecs to 22,000 cusecs providing some relief to Wapda. If Irsa allowed another 22,000 cusecs as hinted by its secretary, the problems of consumers of both the companies might lessen.