LAHORE: People in many areas of the provincial capital and adjoining districts spent Tuesday night almost without electricity after the torrential rain affected as many as 350 11kV feeders of the Lahore Electric Supply Company.

Though the Lesco teams restored supply to some areas, they couldn’t energise most of the feeders due to heavy rain that continued for hours in many areas.

“We spent full night without electricity, as the feeders supplying power to our area couldn’t be energised reportedly owing to rain. Although the weather appeared to be pleasant, humidity kept the residents disturbed,” Waqar, a resident of Model Town, told Dawn on Wednesday.

There are reports that the electricity remained off for hours in several parts of Lahore including Township, Gulberg, Raiwind Road, Multan Road, Baghbanpura, Walled City, Islampura, Wapda Town, Johar Town, Harbanspura, Shahdra, Raiwind city, Mughalpura, Lal Pul, Tajpura, Ravi Road, Islamnagar, DHA, Cantonment and many urban and rural areas of Sheikhupura, Kasur, Nankana Sahib and Okara.

On the one hand, the heavy rain restricted the people’s mobility on roads, on the other it propelled people to come out of their homes to express joy.

“Most of the residents in our street came out of the houses and enjoyed the pleasant weather. It really gave us a relief. But on the other hand, we spent many hours without light,” Ikram, a resident of Johar Town, said.

He also urged the government to look into the issues of electricity supply, particularly during rain and windstorms.

According to Lesco, the rain massively affected the distribution system, suspending supply to many parts of Lahore and other areas.

“As many as 350 feeders tripped due to the downpour. However, the Lesco field formations quickly rushed to the spots after the rain and energised 347 feeders within a few hours during night. The remaining three feeders were also energised on Wednesday morning,” claimed a spokesperson for the company.

WAPDA: Water and Power Development Authority Chairman retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain directed on Wednesday the department concerned to regularise all daily wagers working in distribution transformer engineering service unit (DTESU).

He issued the direction during a visit to the Wapda Foundation and DTESU.

He said Wapda had been taking a number of steps for the last two years for betterment of the employees including revision of human resource policy, setting up of a housing society, a medical college and engineering university besides modernising its healthcare system and upgradation of educational institutes.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018