RAWALPINDI: With temperatures soaring above 40C, prolonged power shutdowns have made the blessed month of Ramazan a very testing time for the citizens of Rawalpindi.

“It is so hot that promises made by the government for sustained power supply during the holy month have all evaporated,” said a citizen, ruing the up to 15-hour “loadshedding” in parts of the city.

Even Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif feels helpless in the situation. On Tuesday, he sought divine intervention in the form of rains for improving the electricity supply.

“But Allah helps those who help themselves,” reminded a citizen, echoing the view of those who do not subscribe to government’s reasons for short supply and claims to improve the situation.

They say the PML-N government has no control on the situation and that power cuts are not evenly distributed in the city. In some areas the supply is shut off for shorter periods, they claim.

Water supply is also affected by power cuts

In Raja Bazaar and surrounding areas, loadshedding occurs only for seven to eight hours. “There is loadshedding in our area but not that much prolonged as is being experienced in the surrounding localities. Light goes for about seven hours daily in our locality,” said Abdur Rasheed, a resident of Narankari Bazaar.

In the surrounding localities of Raja Bazaar, such as Westridge-III, Naseerabad, Misrial Road, Adiala Road, Bakra Mandi and Dhoke Syedan, the residents have to endure more than 14 hours of power cuts daily. “We face more electricity loadshedding compared to the inner city areas like Raja Bazaar,” said Mohammad Raffique, a resident of Allahabad.

“The government is afraid of the opposition parties, especially the PTI, and tries to keep the loadshedding hours at a minimum in the constituencies of opposition MNAs Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.”

He was of the view that the government feared that if there was prolonged laodshedding, the opposition would launch street protests. In the past, all the anti-loadshedding protests in the garrison city were staged in Raja Bazaar and surrounding areas, he said.

Nasir Irfan, a resident of Gulshan-i-Nayyab, said household chores depended on electronic equipment and these became useless in the absence of electricity. He said for the last three days power outages occurred in his area from 2am to 3am, 5am to 6am, 7am to 8am, 10am to 11am, 1pm to 2pm, 3pm to 4pm, 5pm to 6pm and 11pm to midnight.

He said when the residents tried to contact the SDO concerned, he did not respond the calls. An official who received the complaint stated that it was forced loadshedding conducted from the main grid station at Sungjani.

Mohammad Naseer, a resident of Mohanpura, said low voltage was a new problem for them. “My air conditioner, iron and other electric appliances have gone out of order due to the drop in voltage.”

He said it was difficult to spend hot days without electricity and water. The residents are facing difficulties because of power outages, he added.

Some residents suggested that the government should ban illumination of plazas, markets and billboards to save power. They said only a few people could afford UPS and power generators and the rest were suffering due to the power outages.

A senior official of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) told Dawn that there was no loadshedding during Sehr, Iftar and Taraweeh. He said some power outages during these periods were because of technical faults.

Area Duration of

loadshedding 

Raja Bazaar 7 hours

Pirwadhai 8 hours

Saddar 9 hours

Tench Bhatta 14 hours

Allahabad 13 hours

Naseerabad 13 hours

Misrial Road 13 hours

Satellite Town 8 hours

Adiala Road 12 hours

Dhoke Syedan 12 hours

Bakra Mandi 12 hours

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014