PESHAWAR: Several areas of Peshawar city plunged into darkness on Tuesday night as the power supply remained suspended for over nine hours.

People belonging to different areas of the city, including Hashtnagri, Gulbahar, Hussainabad, Dalazak Road, Faqirabad, Chamkani and Nishtarabad, said that the power supply in these areas remained suspended from 11:00pm on Tuesday to 8:00am on Wednesday and they continued dialing the phone numbers of Pesco officials, but got no response.

They said that the consumers, including children and elderly, spent a miserable night in the absence of electricity for over nine hours. People were seen wandering in the streets and on roads for the whole night owing to disruption of power. They also faced hardships during Sehr as housewives could not prepare food in the dark.

They said that in some areas power supply was restored on Wednesday morning, but voltage remained very low.

When contacted, Pesco spokesman Shaukat Afzal said that some 13 feeders had developed faults due to storm and rain in the night. He said the Pesco staff worked hard and restored power supply to eight feeders at 2:48am by replacing cables of T2 power transformer.

Some Swabi areas without electricity for four days

Meanwhile, work continued on replacement of cables of T1 power transformer, but due to complexity of the problem the staff succeeded in replacing the cables in the morning and afterwards power supply was restored at 8:24am.

The spokesman said that one executive engineer, two sud-divisional officers, three superintendents and six technicians remained busy in the power restoration operation throughout the night.

He said that the technical fault at the 132KV Peshawar city grid was of a serious nature, but the staff rectified it within some hours.

In Timergara, the residents complained that power supply in Chakdara and surrounding areas remained suspended for over nine hours.

Talking to mediapersons, the residents said they had no power supply for the whole night on Tuesday and the supply was restored on Wednesday morning.

When contacted, an official of Chakdara grid station said that one of the feeders supplying electricity to Ramora area was overloaded while a transformer at Chakdara had developed fault.

In Swabi, several congested areas have been without electricity for the last four days because their transformers developed faults and there seems no hope that they would be repaired anytime soon by Pesco.

The consumers told Dawn on Wednesday that they had repeatedly appealed to the local councillors and leaders of various political parties to help them in repair or replacement of the faulty transformers, but they were yet to get a positive response.

Residents alleged that some of Pesco officials had approached them that they should collect donation for repair of their transformers otherwise they would have to face the prolonged process wherein the transformers would be sent to Nowshera reclamation centre for repair.

They said that the stoppage of electricity had also resulted in water shortage in the affected areas.

In Topi city three areas have been without power supply because their transformers could not work. These areas included Barakhel, Khararay and Khadar Khankhel. Reports of defective transformers have also been received from Yar Hussain, Chota Lahor, Adina, Ismalia, Salim Khan, Shewa, Charbagh, Gohati and other remote areas.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017