MINGORA: The unscheduled power outages and low voltage has been affecting the routine life and livelihood of people in Swat, especially those who depend on electricity for running their businesses.

Residents said that because of the 16 hours daily outages in Mingora and 18 hours in the rural areas the social and business sectors had almost been paralysed.

“We have not worked for about two months because of the severe power loadshedding, as we depend on electricity for repairing electronic gadgets,” Zahoor Bacha, a technician running a shop in Mingora Bazaar, told Dawn.

Many shopkeepers said that they had installed UPS units in their shops, but these also could not fulfill the requirement.

“The UPS units need proper electricity for recharging which is not possible in the current situation. We are not getting continuous power supply even for an hour. The supply is restored for just 30 minutes after every three hours of loadshedding,” said Abbas Khan, a computer shop owner in Swat Market.

He said that usually the power voltage was so low that they could not run computers.

“We have arranged big stabilizers to get the required voltage,” he said.

Tailors are also facing financial losses due to prolonged outages. “We have two seasons of earning money; a month each before Eidul Fitr and Eidul Azha, but long hours of outages have brought our business almost to a halt,” said Khyal Mohammad, a tailor master in Saidu Sharif.

He said that majority of tailors and shopkeepers having small businesses were facing big losses.

Weather in upper Swat remains mostly pleasant, but it is usually hot in lower Swat where life becomes hard without electricity. “In Mingora, we have to wash clothes with hands and drink hot water due to prolonged power outages,” said Sakina Bibi, a housewife in Faizabad area.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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