MURREE: The residents of Chhajana Union Council have been facing unannounced power outages for the last many days.

Sometimes the duration of the power outages continued for five days, Swar Satti, a notable of the area, told this correspondent.

He said complaints had been lodged with the concerned officials but no action was taken to restore the power supply. Thousands of consumers are facing hardship due to the forced loadshedding.

Mr Satti said the residents had lodged a number of complaints with the executive engineer and other officials of Iesco and also sent written complaint to the National Electric Power Regularity Authority (Nepra) but to no avail.

“We would like to request the minister for water and power to issue directions for the restoration of power to the area and also take action against the concerned officials for their negligence,” Mr Satti said.

When contacted, Iesco Subdivisional Officer, Patriata, Mushtaq Ahmad said due to the heavy windstorm the supply of power to a large number of areas in Murree remained suspended for two days.

He said due to the storm, poles and transmission lines were damaged. During the repair work the power remained suspended only for two days and now the supply is restored.

In reply to a question, the SDO said the duration of loadshedding in the rural areas of Murree was for four hours and in the city areas for three hours.

Published in Dawn February 13th, 2017