PESHAWAR: Severe power loadshedding routed Peshawarites on third consecutive day amid humid weather as protests against power cuts in different localities of the provincial capital continued on Tuesday.

Aggrieved people from the suburbs of the city, experiencing 15 to 18 hours power cut on daily basis, blocked Ring Road at different places on Monday night and Tuesday. The closure of the road caused the worst traffic jam. Motorists and commuters got stuck in the road blockade for four hours.

The residents of Garhi Atta Mohammad, Hayat Khan Town, Usmania Town, Toor Baba and Dir Colony staged protest demonstration against power outage on the Ring Road on Monday evening. Eyewitnesses said that road blockade continued till 1am Tuesday.

A resident of Garhi Atta Mohammad said that people had been experiencing up to 18 hours power loadshedding on daily basis.

Pesco spokesperson attributes outages to extreme weather phenomenon

People from suburbs including Hazarkhwani, Sorizai and Mosazai blocked the road on Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of consumers in several localities of old city, Hayatabad Township and its adjacent areas experienced the worst power cut. Police briefly detained several protesters, who blocked Ring Road.

“People are subjected to hours-long power suspension without any prior notice by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco). No power, no water while braving hot and humid weather. Women and children are the worst affected,” said Ibrahim Khan, a resident of Gulbahar.

He said that there was no electricity in Gulbahar for the last eight hours.

The protesters burnt portraits and effigies of provincial ministers and advisers to the chief minister to express their anger. The power cut also forced people to close Warsak Road to traffic.

Officials of the beleaguered Pesco, the power distribution company in KP and Azad Kashmir, attributed power outages to extreme weather phenomenon. The company spokesman told Dawn that supply system had come under severe pressure due to hot weather.

He said that 132KV grid of Peshawar city tripped that caused loud explosion. He said that the fault disrupted power supply to Sikandarpura, Lala, Urmr, Hashtnagri, Choghulpura, Chamkani, Jhagra and other adjacent areas.

“The power supply system gets overheated and overburdened because of extreme weather,” the spokesman said, adding that repair and maintenance work were underway at the grid.

He said that electric overload caused tripping and 50 per cent load management had been begun at 500KV, 220KV and 132KV grid stations in the area. He said that existing load management was meant to prevent massive power breakdowns mainly in Peshawar, Swat, Swabi, Bannu and other major districts. He said that power theft also contributed to power outages.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2020