LARKANA: The heat wave continued for third consecutive day in parts of Sindh with Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts sizzling at 52.2 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

As if the soaring temperatures were not enough prolonged power cuts, frequent tripping have made the daily lives of residents a veritable nightmare.

Unannounced power cuts and low voltage affected stand-by power generators in hospitals as a result many surgeries were either left unfinished or were postponed.

There was thin inter-city traffic while people thronged electronics shops to purchase gadgets.

Frequency of gastroenteritis cases in the casualty department of Chandka Medical College Hospital has increased, hospital sources said.

According to met office, the wind direction was still being recorded as north-west and south-west which would further aggravate the weather. “We expect a drop in temperature from Saturday onwards,” the weatherman said.

KHAIRPUR: Temperature in Khairpur district reached 50 degrees Celsius. The scorching weather made it hard for people to move about and do their daily life chores. Roads and streets were deserted as many people preferred staying at home due to the unbearable weather.

There was an increase in electronic home appliances such as coolers, refrigerators, air conditioners etc.

Ice and cold beverage vendors had a field day as they sold their wares in greater quantity and in higher prices.

Even though new electricity meters were installed at an express feeder in Khairpur, it kept tripping, according to residents.

HYDERABAD: A large number of residents Latifabad Unit-11 on Thursday staged a big demonstration at Shahbaz chowk and outside the Shahbaz building in protest against issuance of detection bills and supply of filthy water to their areas.

While in Sukkur, resident of Khanpur Mahar town of district Ghotki were facing load-shedding of 22 hours in the sweltering heat after four pole-mounted transformers (PMT) were burnt.

In Hyderabad, Ibrahim Chishti and Mohammad Ashraf, both former union council nazims of their areas, led the protesters including a large number of elderly women and men besides children.

Mr Chishti said they were slapped with detection bills by Superintending Engineer (SE) Malik Imtiaz. Despite his (SE) commitment in a protest in August last year about doing away with all detection bills, he did not fulfil his promise, the nazim said.

A scuffle also took place between protesters and a group of motorcyclists who were passing through the road. They were manhandled by the protesters who wanted the riders to take another route. Bike riders quarrelled with them and also threw stones at the protesters. GOR police intervened and brought the situation under control.

The angry protesters headed for Shahbaz Building in a bid to enter Hesco officer’s office there, but police locked the main entrance.

In the meantime, Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch contacted Mr Chishti over phone and invited him for talks. After a meeting with the SSP in his office, Mr Chishti told reporters that the SSP contacted Hesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Akhtar Randhawa and Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Masood Jumani. He said the SSP had promised that he would help resolve the issues.

Mr Chishti along with a few other leaders met the Hesco CEO who, according to him, promised to hold a meeting to resolve the issue. He said Wasa MD Jumani told them that he had just taken over the charge as the MD and he would try his level best to improve things.

MD Jumani told Dawn that transformers’ availability had delayed at Thandi Sarak reservoir for extra pumping for Latifabad.

He said that once those transformers were installed, extra water would be pumped for onward supply to the areas of Latifabad, including those whose residents protested on Thursday. People had taken multiple connections of water supply which made other areas water stressed in Latifabad, he said.

Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubar told Dawn that during previous checking of illegal connections, Hesco teams had found air conditioners even in kitchens and bathrooms of some houses in Latifabad Unit-11. He said detection bills were issued to those consumers.

SUKKUR: Resident of Khanpur Mahar town of district Ghotki were braving load-shedding of 22 hours a day after four PMTs were burnt down.

More than 50 villages getting power supply from 11KV Khangarh feeder were facing difficulties.

According to reports, electricity was being supplied only for two hours in night timings from 11KV Khangarh feeder to those villages in the sweltering heat of summer at a time when temperature was touching 50 degrees Celsius.

The villagers have demanded from Sepco authorities to decrease the duration of power load-shedding and immediate repair or replacement of the burnt transformers.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016