LAHORE: Residents in several areas of the provincial metropolis bore the brunt of hours-long power suspension due to what officials said tripping of 11kV distribution feeders and lines, breakdown of transformers and other technical faults.

The problem started during Thursday’s intermittent rain and added to the water woes at some places.

Although the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) claimed to have restored all the feeders by Thursday night, many city areas including Faisal Town and Model Town were without electricity till 8pm on Friday.

“We have been without electricity since last (Thursday) night and neither Lesco officials -- the SDO and EXENs (executive engineers) bothered to attend our calls nor did anyone come to out area to rectify the fault. One can’t express the agony one faces especially when the officials remain indifferent to the plight of the people,” Yamin, a resident of Model Town’s N block, told Dawn.

“There was no water even to prepare meals and repeated reminders to the officials proved futile,” she said.

Rain exposes Lesco’s electricity supply system constraints

The similar situation was reported in Faisal Town’s C Block where the residents faced a great deal of inconvenience in the absence of electricity for hours on end.

“We lodged complaints but no one bothered to address the issue. Officials of Faisal Town subdivision (Gulberg division) came there and told us about the breakdown of the transformer. The power was finally restored around 4:30pm on Friday,” said Razaque.

“It’s deplorable,” he said, “that the subdivision concerned lacks the capacity to even replace a faulty transformer within a short time.”

Speaking to this reporter, many residents of Township also hit out at the Lesco authorities for not rectifying the faults even after many hours.

“We faced power suspension with intervals on Thursday and the SDO office staff first said there was a fault in the transformer jumper and later they claimed that the grid had been closed owing to technical problem,” Amir, a resident of A-1 sector, said. The electricity was fully restored around 11pm on Thursday, he said.

There were reports of power breakdown and fluctuation in many other parts of the city.

The Lesco administration dispelled the impression and said the field formations restored the tripped feeders by Thursday night. “Actually 130 feeder in the city tripped owing to rain on Thursday. And all were energised by night, restoring electricity to the affected areas,” a Lesco spokesman claimed.

However, he admitted, isolated complaints about faults triggered by rain were there. Asked about ‘poor’ response of the subdivisions / divisions staff, he said he would take up the issue with the Lesco chief soon.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2019