LARKANA, Aug 3: Larkana is experiencing a severe electricity crisis these days because 18 power transformers have been burnt in the city.

A survey conducted by revealed that two transformers developed faults in Leelabad locality five days ago, but Sepco officials have turned a deaf ear to their rectification.

People are also facing shortage of drinking water in the aftermath of power outages.

An affected consumer, Sarfraz Jatoi, alleged that power theft under the nose of Sepco officials had drastically affected power supply and damaged the already overloaded transformers.

Mohammed Saleem Shaikh of Madina colony said the transformer of the area had been burnt four days ago, but Sepco failed to repair it despite repeated requests.

Nazir Ahmed, a resident of new fish market area, said five days ago the transformer of the area had been damaged but efforts to get it replaced proved futile.

He said they were suffering at the cost of power theft which was committed in connivance with Sepco employees.

Waheed Shaikh of Leghari Mohalla said that for the past 15 days, residents were living in misery while a part of Dari mohalla was without power, he said.

Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh of Tanga Stand area said that instead of repairing a defective transformer, Sepco staff replaced it with another faulty one.

Salamat Abro of Nazar Mohalla said that they were braving power outage during Sehri time. Low voltage paired with fluctuation and unannounced loadshedding had made life miserable, he said.

The transformers near Batool Centre in Surhiya Padar and at Bakrani road near Dr Ammanullah and Bhurgri colony had been burnt a week ago, said Mohammed Nawaz, a resident of Bakrani road.

Realising gravity of the situation, Sindh Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ayaz Soomro recently talked to the chief executive officer of Sepco for early replacement of transformers to address the power crisis.

He had asked for 18 transformers of 100 KVA and 200 KVA to restore normality but the Sepco chief committed to provide 10, said Khair Mohammed Shaikh, vice-president of the PPP, Larkana chapter.

Sher Afzal Mithani, a resident of Resham Gali, a main trade centre, said they often faced the link problems in the transformer. Most of the time out of the three outgoing links two remained inoperative, which led to damages to the transformer.

Bashir Paryal Shaikh, president of the Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said rise in power theft coupled with political interference in running feeders had worsened the situation in Larkana. Politicians and influential people mounted pressure on Sepco employees to have their desired load on the feeders to ensure smooth supply to their areas, he said.

Putting unnecessary load on feeders, unscheduled load shedding and illegal connections were the key reasons behind damages to transformers, he said.

Bashir Shaikh said the chief of Sepco should be given free hand to launch operation against power thieves, he said.

Mohammed Aslam, senior vice president of the federation of traders union, a representative body of 27 traders unions, said that prolonged power outage, damaged transformers and the menace of inflated billing, detection bills and illegal connections had tremendously tortured people in this season when mercury touched 49 and 50 degree Celsius, he said.

He said he had conveyed to President Asif Ali Zardari in June 21 meeting in Naudero about the slow paced work on the construction of 132 KVA grid station on the airport road whose foundation stone had been laid about two and half year ago by MNA Faryal Talpur. The project was to be completed in one year.

The matter was also discussed with Federal Minister for Power Naveed Qamar during a visit to Larkana in the first week of July who assured accelerating the process.

Sources at local 132KV grid station said that overloading of feeders had become very common, which forced the operators at the grid to discontinue power supply for a while to save it from any damages.

The operation wing which dealt with power distribution failed to control power theft and mushroom growth of kunda connections had enhanced load on the grid stations and damages to the transformers, the sources said.

When contacted, Superintendent Engineer of Sepco Mohammed Urs Dayo said duplicate power supply (which the power users illegally obtain), load shifting in case of failure of one transformer to another one, battery of illegal connections, non-availability of transformers were main problems.

Transformers developed faults frequently because of overloading, he said and appealed to politicians and union leaders to help assist in resolving the problem.

“We are trying to repair damaged transformers urgently and install them to restore the power supply to the affected areas, but removing illegal connection was a must.”

He admitted that currently 18 transformers were damaged in the city on different feeders.

Meanwhile, the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) has given call for a wheel-jam strike for Thursday in protest against the prolonged power outages and failure of Sukkur Electricity Power Company (Sepco) to restore normal power supply.