The government’s promise of containing the menace of load shedding, at least in the holy month of Ramadan, have fallen flat, evident from the widespread blackout in many major cities and small towns of the country on the very first day of fasting, and right at the time of sehar and iftar when it was most needed.
The citizens made special arrangements in connection with the first day of the holy month and cooked dishes according to the occasion and the weather. A large number of people also head to restaurants for their sehri and iftari. But yesterday in no way proved an easy one for them as people in different parts of the country faced severe difficulties as there was no electricity at sehar and iftar times.
Power supply remained suspended to areas in many cities including Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Swat, Charsadda and Hangu. The troubles of the citizens in some cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were further aggravated by the disappearance of gas as well.
Load shedding continued in many areas of the Sindh province during the sehar timings that compelled the citizens to prepare for the first fast in the dark.
Many areas of Sindh including Qamber, Shahdadkot, Ratodero, Larkana, Naseerabad and Dokri plunged into darkness after 132 KV transmission line fell off that could not be repaired until the filing of this report. Spokesman of Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) Ikhtiar Memon said that repair work of the affected line would kick off today (Sunday).
Hyderabad and other adjoining areas of Sindh were also without electricity on the first day of Ramzan.
In Rawalpindi, the areas badly affected by frequent power cuts included Mohanpura, Raja Bazaar, Naya Mohallah, Bara Market, Moti Bazaar, Sabzi Mandi, Sarafa Bazaar, Iqbal Road, Dhoke Ratta, Ratta Amral, Dhoke Hasu, Kashmiri Bazaar, Narankari Bazaar, Saidpur Road, Asghar Mall Scheme, Satellite Town, Shamsabad, Dheri Hassanabad, Lalkurti, Tench Bhatta, Chakri Road, Lalazar, Adiala Road, Raheemabad, Mareer Hassan and other areas are witnessing of electricity loadshedding.
Residents of different localities while talking to APP said that load shedding had halted their activities. Adnan, a resident of Adiala Road, said, “We are paying huge electricity bills, but do not get proper electricity supply.”
