SUKKUR, Dec 3: Entire upper Sindh is experiencing worst kind of loadshedding for the last many days, which has paralyzed routine activities of life in the area. The worst hit segment of the society included traders, elderly persons, school going children and patients in different government and private hospitals.
Reports gathered from Sukkur, Rohri, Pano Akil, Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo, Daharki, Ubauro, Kashmore, Kandhkot, Tangwani, Thull, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Moro, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot and other cities and towns revealed that unannounced and hours long load shedding has almost become a daily routine which has disturbed normal life in the urban areas and disrupting agricultural activities in the rural Sindh.
Reports further say, law and order situation in most parts of the interior of the Sindh province in particular, and urban parts in general, was not good enough and people, especially those residing in the rural areas remain on guard round the clock because of tribal feuds as well as criminal activities and unannounced outages during the midnights add to their miseries, as the Hesco use to cut power supply to entire cities and towns, simultaneously. Besides this, reports from rural areas indicate that they were made to endure 12 to 16 hours of load shedding, while in many villages, power supply remain suspended for days altogether.
A large number of people contacted by Dawn in upper parts of Sindh replied that whenever they contacted Hesco officers and asked about the reason of long outages, they always came up with a well-prepared answer that outages were being carried out by the regional control centre, Hyderabad.
On the other hand, officials at the regional control centre usually misbehave with callers and talk in a very harsh manner and advise the caller to contact the national power control, Islamabad, without even explaining the reason of unending outages.
With Eidul-Azha just round the corner, extra ordinary rush is being observed in almost all the main bazaars and business centres and the intending shoppers, especially women and children, face difficulties in case of outages during shopping, as they often fall prey to street crime, sometimes loosing their purse and mobile phones.
This correspondent talked to a dozen of citizens belonging to different shades of life, who while blaming the Hesco, maintained that with the onset of winter, consumption of electricity has minimised considerably as compared to the summer season and there was no justification for carrying out hours long loadshedding. On the other hand, insiders on condition of not being named, maintained that unannounced loadshedding was being carried out to cover the line losses of Hesco.
It may be recalled that in summer when electricity shortfall stood at 7,500 mega watts, Hesco carried out loadshedding in urban areas for eight hours while in the rural areas its duration was extended to 12 hours, and now when according to the water and power ministry, shortage of power was just 1200 to 1500 mega watts, Hesco was carrying out an unannounced load shedding for six to 12 hours in cities and towns of upper Sindh.
This correspondent contacted the chief executive of Hesco in Hyderabad, Mr. K. B. Qureshi, who after listening to the question regarding loadshedding hanged up his phone by saying that he “was busy in a meeting right now and will talk later on”.
He, however, did not respond to this correspondent’s queries till our going to the press.