LARKANA: Power supply is gradually being restored on Saturday to the districts of Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Shikarpur, which had remained deprived of electricity since June 27 after a strong dust-storm caused nine towers to collapse.

The main supply of 132/66 kV disconnected around 10 pm on Tuesday night affecting 13 grid stations of Sukkur Electric Power Supply Company (Sepco) of Larkana, New Larkana city, Madeji, Ratodero, Naudero, Garhi Yasin (Shikarpur), Mirokhan (Qambar-Shahdadkot), Garhi Khairo (Jacobabad), Shahdadkot, Warah, Dokri, Radhan and Qambar.

The breakdown multiplied sufferings of people amid rising temperatures in the area. Sepco made alternative arrangement of power supply from Dadu but it overloaded the system and the authorities had to cut the supply for two hours.

The delay in the restoration of power supply tested patience of people, who took to the streets in Nasirabad, Radhan, Shahdadkot and Larkana and demonstrated against long hours of loadshedding.

They expressed anger over lethargic attitude of the Sepco authorities, which were taking too long to restore electricity, and criticised vulnerability of the power supply system which had made them suffer long outages.

People complained the meat of sacrificial animals they had stored in deep freezers, freezers and fridges had started rotting due to unavailability or very low voltage of power.

The standby solar system and their batteries were exhausted in the long breakdown as they could not be re-charged. It also created shortage of drinking water as the pumps were not working without power, they said.

The ice bars which were normally sold at Rs300 a piece were being sold for Rs2,000 a piece. Patients in hospitals also suffered amid the long breakdown, they said.

Zardari takes notice after five days

The power supply was finally restored to affected areas and although Sepco had outlined temporary loadshedding plan in the wake of the present crisis but it remained unimplemented

The Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the peoples’ suffering after five days of power breakdown and asked Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh to visit the site of the collapsed towers and supervise the restoration work.

The minister along with Sepco Chief Executive Officer and technical staff concerned told media persons after inspecting the work that nine pylons had fallen due to strong winds and resulted into power breakdown.

The Sepco had not only called in its staff but also summoned technical personnel from Lahore to restore power supply as early as possible. “We faced difficulty due to Eid holidays which slowed the restoration work,” he said.

He said the power supply would be fully restored that day. The areas which had remained without power for five days would be given relief in the shape of three days of uninterrupted electricity supply once the supply had been fully restored, he said.

Jamil Soomro, political secretary to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, said that he had been in touch with the Sepco CEO and the chairman was fully aware of the power crisis which had hit Larkana.

He was unsure if the Sepco would fully restore power supply to the feeders of 13 grid stations till late Saturday night and demanded action against those responsible for delay in the restoration work.

Rashid Mehmood Soomro, general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Sindh, said that he had talked to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and federal minister for power Khurram Dastagir and conveyed to them the plight of people of Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot who had been suffering the long outage for five days.

He said that slow paced restoration work had multiplied miseries of people in Larkana and its adjoining areas which sizzled at 50 degrees Celsius.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023