SWABI: People of various areas here on Saturday offered special prayers for rain following continued hot weather and delay in monsoon rains.

People in Pirtab village were appealed to offer special prayer for rain after funeral of a woman, while Namaz-i-Istisqa was also offered in Sheikh Jana and various other regions of Swabi district.

In a number of other villages, people offered special prayers and also prayed at Taraweeh for rain. “The rainfall is at this stage is direly needed and it will also be beneficial to crops,” said a farmer, Mohammad Farooq, of Salim Khan village.

People said that this period of the year was usually marked by monsoon, but this year the delay in rains had been causing damage to the crops. They said that hot and dry weather had not only made Ramazan harsh, but also affected Virginia tobacco and vegetables, resulting in losses to the growers. The tobacco growers said that curing process of the flue-cured Virginia had turned more complicated because the crop did not yield according to their expectations.

“The delay in start of monsoon has also delayed the cultivation of maize crop,” said Nural Zaman of Gohati region.

Meanwhile, people belonging to Zaida city have demanded of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company to make arrangements for immediate replacement of the faulty electricity transformer of their locality.

They said that their 100kv transformer had gone out of order due to overload and they were without power supply for the last few days. They have appealed to the Pesco officials to take immediate action and install the transformer to ensure smooth power supply to the area.

The residents said that they had brought the matter into the notice of high-ranking officials, but no corrective measures were taken as yet.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2014