MINGORA/CHARSADDA: Prolonged loadshedding and scorching heat on Sunday forced the citizens to flock the Swat and Kabur Rivers to cool off in the fasting month.

Residents of Mingora and suburbs who flocked the river at by-pass road and Fizagat points said staying at homes in sweltering heat with prolonged loadshedding was impossible. “We are sustaining 16 to 18 hours of loadshedding in Ramazan. Had we not have the Swat River, fasting in the prolonged power outages would be very tough,” said Ahmad Hilal, a resident of Mingora.

“Four hours of loadshedding is observed after every 30 minutes, so we have to spend most of daytime bathing in the river,” Aftab Ali of Malook Abad said, adding the river is a blessing for them.

While young boys are seen jumping into the river from high spots small children remained close to their parents while in the water. “We locked our house and came to the river to beat the heat,” said a woman, who sat along the riverbank with her family.

Usually, hundreds of people throng the river every day, the number is much higher on Fridays and Sundays.

Apart from local people, a large number of tourists from Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera and Peshawar also come to the Swat River in summer season.

Saeed Khan from Peshawar said he really enjoyed taking a dip in the cool water of the River Swat.

He said he would return to Peshawar after iftari. The tourists said people of Swat were lucky to have cool water in the hot weather to beat the heat. “We are feeling comfortable in the water as it is not only cool but also soothing,” said Shamim Bibi, an elderly woman who came from Attock.

In Charsadda, fed up with blistering heat and humid weather and prolonged loadshedding at homes the residents particularly youngsters of Tangi and other adjoining areas reached the Kabul and Swat Rivers on Sunday to enjoy bath ignoring a ban imposed by the district administration.

Several electricity transformers were burnt due to overload leaving the residents without electricity supply. The toddlers, women and elderly persons are the worst sufferers as they are unable to come out of their houses in congested localities.

The streets and bazaars in Tangi and other areas of Chasradda wore a deserted look as nobody dared to come out of houses during the scorching heat where mercury raised above 46 degree centigrade with humidity at 30 per cent. The people also offered special prayers at mosques for rain.

The people urged the provincial government to take up with the federal government the issue of ‘usurping’ 500mw electricity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and giving it to other provinces.

They said like previous rulers the PTI leadership also failed miserably to protect the rights and interests of Pakhtuns.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2015

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