LAHORE: The people in some localities of Lahore and its adjoining areas faced the worst-ever power suspension caused by the intermittent rain during last couple of days.

Various parts of Lahore were reported to be without electricity even till Thursday night as over 150 power distribution feeders also tripped, according to reports.

“We have had no electricity since Wednesday. Besides trying to contact the officials on the landline numbers (as mentioned on the bills), we also sent messages to the Ichhra SDO and Civil Lines EXEN but no one responded,” Yaqoob, a resident of Ichhra (Ahata Moolchand), deplores while talking to Dawn.

“Due to electricity failure, no water supply here either,” he adds.

The areas reported to be without electricity for several hours included Santnagar and Dev Samaj Road (constituency of Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar), Sahuwari, Mughalpura, Panj Pir Road, Manga, Shahdara and some rural parts of the Lahore city district and adjoining urban areas.

“We lost electricity supply 24 hours ago. Lesco field teams seem to be too lazy to rectify the fault. We also tried to contact the officers concerned but no one picked our calls,” bemoans Muhammad Ashraf, a resident of Taqi Street in the Panj Pir Road area.

“I don’t know why they (the Lesco officials) have not rectified the fault,” he wonders. The SDO of the area (Islamia Park), when contacted, says the locality needs replacement of a faulty transformer.

“We are working on it and the power to the Taqi Street will be restored soon,” he pledges.

However, till the filing of this report at 9pm, the electricity supply to the area was not restored.

According to one Khalid, a resident of Sant Nagar, his area had no electricity supply for the last 20 hours.

“Hammad Sahib, Sant Nagar, Dev Samaj Road (your constituency) is without light (electricity) since morning. No one is picking our phone calls to lodge complaints. Here is no water too,” the consumer commented in a tweet on Wednesday evening. Another consumer, Shahid, also narrates the same tale miseries from the areas of Sahuwari and Mughalpura.

The Lesco chief executive officer dispels the impression of power supply cut due to the rain, claiming that the power to the entire Lahore and adjoining districts was restored after the field teams succeeded in energising all the feeders (total 150) tripped during various rain spells.

“I don’t think that any part of Lahore was without electricity even on Thursday, as power supply to all affected areas had been restored by Wednesday evening,” he adds. However, he admits that there might be some areas where the power supply could not be restored due to the faults other than those caused by the rain. He asked for the details of the areas that had no power supply.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2022