GILGIT, Nov 20: With the onset of winter in the Northern Areas, the Northern Areas Public Works Department (NAPWD) has started suspending the supply of power for many hours daily, and to markets for even two or three days, shopkeepers told Dawn on Monday.

When contacted, NAPWD officials said they had been forced to suspend the power supply due to shortage of water in the Kargah stream. It was, they added, not possible to run all the turbines installed in the stream due to the water shortage.

Use of applicants that need a high-voltage supply was another reason cited by the officials as justification for the frequent power breakdowns.

However, a number of affected people told Dawn that the NAPWD and other departments of the Northern Areas administration had not paid any attention to “this perennial problem” because those officials were connected with “special lines” in connivance with NAPWD linemen.

Some traders said they could not afford to install generators, which, they added, were an additional burden on their already crises-ridden businesses.

UNCERTIFIED SEED: Uncertified and substandard seeds have brought about low agriculture yield and badly affected agriculture in the Northern Areas, causing the farmers of the region huge losses.

This was stated by Abdul Samad Khan, regional director of the federal seed certification and registration, the NWFP and Northern Areas, while speaking to seed dealers here on Tuesday.