MANSEHRA, July 6: Dassu, the district headquarters of Kohistan, is without electricity these days as small hydropower generators supplying electricity to the city have stopped functioning because of abnormally low water flow in local streams.

Kohistan was given the status of district in 1976 and its headquarters city is still without electricity supplied by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). As such, people are completely dependent on self-generated electricity through turbines and generators installed on streams all over the city.

“Because of long dry spell in the region water level has dropped alarmingly in streams, the only source of electricity in Dassu, rendering hydropower generators useless,” said Shamsur Rehman, a resident of Dassu.

He said that the stream water now lacked pressure to run generators and resultantly people were without power supply for last few weeks.

Mr Rehman said that people were also migrating to other areas from Dassu to cope with the scorching heat, which was unbearable for local people as this summer proved to be one of the hottest in last two decades.

He said that the elders had installed three small hydropower generators in Dassu, which were producing 12KV electricity, enough for the city areas. He said that this electricity was supplied without any tariff.

Mr Rehman said that the government had installed only one such generator in Dassu, which had been providing electricity to government offices only in Jalkot area. He said that local people in groups of five to six families had also installed their own generators to obtain electricity.