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PESHAWAR: Industrial units in Peshawar's Hayatabad Industrial Estate continued to suffer from prolonged power outages for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the wake of the destruction of electricity distribution network by an angry mob here on Monday.
Manufacturing activities at the provincial capital's major industrial estate couldn't resume for the second day in a row as the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) struggled to fully restore electric supply to the affected areas.
“It (repair work) is not like erecting a small pole. We have to put back four large towers, two small ones, and install transmission lines to repair and restore our distribution network,” Pesco's spokesman Shaukat Afzal told Dawn .
A mob in the Mathra area on Peshawar's outskirts destroyed six towers and stole transmission line after going berserk on Monday, demanding an end to prolonged power outages in the area. The damage to Pesco's electricity distribution network affected a large area in Peshawar and its suburbs.
The problem also affected the supply of electricity to the Hayatabad Industrial Estate, causing substantial losses to the manufacturing sector.
Mr Afzal said the 200MW hydel power generation unit at Warsak had stopped producing electricity as electricity couldn't be transported to the national grid due to destruction of six power towers.
“Electricity production at the Warsak powerhouse has come to a complete halt,” said the Pesco spokesman.
He said it would take some time to fully restore the distribution network as installing four large power towers and two small towers was a time-consuming process.
According to the spokesman, destruction of towers caused two kinds of losses. The Pesco suffered financial losses due to damage done to its infrastructure, which would run into hundreds of thousands of rupees. Other than that, the company also suffered losses as it couldn't supply electricity to its consumers, which would lend negative impact to revenue.
Mr Afzal said the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) also suffered as hydel power generated at Warsak fed the national grid, while electricity from Warsak powerhouses was supplied to different parts of the country.
“We have begun to do repairs but no one from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's administration seems to be bothered about the losses to our infrastructure. No body is talking about punishing those who committed the crime,” he said.
The Pesco spokesman said the provincial police were not acting against tower attackers though television channels had video footages clearing showing them.
Industrialists complained that they suffered losses as manufacturing activities could be carried out on Tuesday after electricity was supplied to the industrial estate from 11:00am to 6:00pm.
Mr Afzal said the Pesco had arranged electricity from an alternative source of transmission. “But despite that, the problem exists,” he said, adding that electricity would be supplied to the estate from 11:00pm (Tuesday) to 6:00am (Wednesday).When contacted, Malik Ishaq, a Hayatabad Industrial Estate based manufacturer, said electric supply was restored to the estate for few hours on Tuesday after an industrialists' delegation called on the Pesco officials to inform them about negative impact of power outages.
“The entire industrial estate has suffered,” said Malik Nayaz, president of the Hayatabad Industrial Estate Owners' Association.
Steel manufacturer Nauman Wazir, who is on the Pesco's board of directors, told Dawn that industries remained without electricity from 9:00am Monday to 11:00am Tuesday, rendering huge financial losses to manufacturers as their workforce was sitting idle.
“It clearly reflects the pathetic situation of the poor writ of our government,” he said.
