Unscheduled power outages irk capital dwellers

Despite the announcement made by Federal Minister Naveed Qamar to end power load shedding in the country, the residents of the capital are experiencing routine electricity outages ranging from seven to 10 hours a day. Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar on February 6 said the countrywide load shedding would come to an end from February 7, but unscheduled power outages in various sectors of Islamabad has exceeded five hours while residents of I-10 Sector are the worst affected by unscheduled load shedding in the freezing cold.
Earlier, responding to various questions of legislators in the National Assembly, Naveed Qamar said the issue of circular debt of independent power producers (IPPs) would be resolved in next few days. He said the people’s government had so far added 3,272mw to the national grid while a number of reforms had also been introduced to overcome the power crisis.
Talking about the ground reality, the capital’s residents, especially students preparing for examinations, complained of unscheduled suspension of electric supply over the last one week. Most of such complaints came in from G-6, G-10, G-7, G-6 and G-11, I-9 and I-8 while dwellers of I-10 Sector are facing over 10-hour electricity suspension.
Noor Fatima, a local college’s student, told Pakistan Today on Sunday that electric supply remained suspended for long hours without schedule, badly affecting her studies.
She said load shedding inconvenienced the students whose examinations were imminent. She also criticised Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar for setting one deadline after another for ending load shedding.
“Raja Pervaiz Ashraf made promises to end power outage in the past. Later, he was found involved in a rental power scam. Now Naveed Qamar is trying to fool people through his false promises,” she added.
The government and private employees also complained that they could not reach their offices in time owing to load shedding in the morning hours.
Talking to this scribe, students complained that they had to wait for long hours to have photo copies of documents at photo stat shops owing to unscheduled suspension of electric supply.
Asjad Khan who owns a photo stat shop in G-6 said he had three photo copying machines, but was unable to deliver orders on time due to hours-long load shedding. He confirmed that frequent power cuts had really irked students preparing for examinations. He also complained of bad business during this ‘season of examinations’ and feared things would deteriorate in the absence of smooth electric supply.
An F-10 shopkeeper made a similar complaint. He said he was facing business losses due to load shedding for long hours. Women earning livelihood by stitching clothes on electric sewing machines are also badly hit by load shedding.
One such woman, Nadia Mehak, said frequent power outages had made her work of stitching and designing for a boutique quite cumbersome.
The residents complained that load shedding was also causing severe shortage of water supply in the area. The rural areas, including Bhara Kaho, Bari Imam, Saidpur village, and Ghauri Town, phases I, II and adjacent areas were also facing long hours of unscheduled load shedding. The residents were without electricity from 2pm to 5pm, 7pm to 11pm and 1.15am to 4.15am.
According to an official of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), the power shortfall in the country is between 5,000mw to 6,000mw while the demand is about 18,000mw.
The IESCO official said the company was striving hard to bridge the gap in the demand and supply. The situation would soon improve, he added.
“The electric supply company has been strictly following the load shedding schedule. Cold weather prompted unscheduled load shedding, especially at night. Electric supply to the city’s each sector was suspended for five to six hours a day, however, the load shedding duration will decrease by the end of this month,” the official claimed.