Load shedding and the Pakistani professional

The long and short of it

The Nandipur Power Plant debacle is the last nail in the coffin that holds any hope that Pakistan will be able to successfully tackle its energy crisis. Power shortages have spelled disaster for the people of the country for a number of years now with the situation only worsening with time.

On the May31, 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the plant to show the country that it was on track to solving its electricity problems. What seemed as a positive step then has been revealed to be something of a PR exercise. The plant was in no condition to commence operations and subsequently shutdown after a comical five-day run.

People from all walks of life and different types of industries are finding it hard to actually manage their professions alongside the electricity issue. Maaz, a journalist from Karachi, explained his frustration, “This hide and seek that the electricity is playing with us is wreaking havoc in our lives. I sometimes have to transfer heavy files from a passport drive to a computer, and if there is power failure during that, months of hard work could go down the drain. Sure the computers can be backed up by a UPS or a generator but those too can fail quite frequently, the latter more than the former. There is very little encouragement for many business sectors and industries to survive just because of these power breakdowns. The textiles industry has been so badly hit by power outages that a lot of the industry and workers have been forced to migrate to Bangladesh. You want a better economy? Produce more electricity by reliable and effective means. That’s the long and short of it!”

People from all walks of life and different types of industries are finding it hard to actually manage their professions alongside the electricity issue.

Karachi is the business hub of the country and is routinely plagued by power outages. At times a small amount of rain can translate into substantial power cuts and load shedding. Fareeha, who is a banker by profession, explained her own anguish, “Not being able to iron your clothes before work, or have access to running water, is more detrimental to my entire day than anything else. The fact that all of this is happening in Ramazan makes it worse. I spent the entire day at my office working with a 10 KVA generator doing wonders to our brain. The noise was deafening and I had no way to concentrate! I love rain but do not fancy the idea of it any more if it means more such days because every time there’s a small shower we end up descending into darkness”.

The situation is no better in Lahore where electricity at times disappears for hours only to return for a few minutes. Hadi, a lecturer from Lahore, talked about his irritation, “Load shedding has made it impossible for me to work or sleep properly. I am an educator and most of my work revolves around typing on computers. There isn’t enough power to even recharge my devices and I can’t get any work done. I can’t print tests or exams. I don’t have the capacity to sit and read.

“The students are suffering just as badly as the teachers are. How are they supposed to learn any of the material that’s fitted onto computers? Even material they need to get photocopied had to wait. I teach a class of 80 students and yes, everyone smells foul. When they’re sitting for an exam this affects their concentration levels grades. It’s the height of lunacy”.

Karachi is the business hub of the country and is routinely plagued by power outages. At times a small amount of rain can translate into substantial power cuts and load shedding.

Of course not everybody feels that the energy situation is so dire. Azfaar, who works at an NGO in Islamabad, feels that even though electricity means work has to stop, it isn’t always a bad thing. “It just halts everything but no electricity means no office work. Printers don’t work on UPS, neither do our heavy-duty workstations. So in fact we just save our work and take a break after every hour”, he laughed.

And while some parts of the country may rely on the government for their electricity this isn’t the case for all areas. Bahria Town, for instance, has been able to tackle electricity on its own. It charges its residents a larger fee but makes sure power outages are negligible. Natasha, a freelancer and home-based professional, explained, “We don’t get much load shedding in Bahria. But most of my work is online and when the light does go out for five minutes my router stops working for at least 10, which is supremely annoying”.

At the end of the day the electricity issue is one that affects a large portion of the Pakistani population. Most people have to rely on the government to provide them with electricity. While several offices have invested in backup generators and UPSs people still have to return to homes that have no power. It’s a repetitive cycle that is causing a huge strain on Pakistani professionals — and in the grand scheme of things these are the people that sustain the country.