MIANWALI, July 14: An incessant unscheduled loadshedding coupled with crunch of Wapda linemen to rectify faults has made the situation worse for the people in Mianwali.

The worst-affected are rural areas of the district where Wapda officials often ‘forget’ to restore power supply for many hours together. This practice by officials is badly affecting the farmers who are unable to run their tubewells.

The lone city complaint office has only a few linemen who can hardly respond to complaints with having a population of close to three million.

The complaint office phone is always found engaged and if one is lucky enough to get connected the attendant replies: “the staff is reaching the spot”, but it takes several hours to get even the minor fault removed.

The authority has different loadshedding schedule for each feeder and the influential people have got two connections with the blessing of Wapda officials. They immediately switch over to the other feeder in case of loadshedding.

XEN Haroon Akhtar Khan although admitted the poor performance of the complaint staff, he said the shortage of linemen was the major problem in addressing the complaints in time.

He said the transfer of 32 linemen to other districts had added to the problem and that he had requested the high-ups to provide more staff to ease the situation in Mianwali.

About the double connections, he said this illegal practice had created problems and the authority would soon launch a campaign to eradicate the menace.