PM’s home constituency kept in the dark

Although scheduled and unscheduled power outages plague the whole city throughout its many neighborhoods, the prime minister’s own constituency, NA 120, has been undergoing particularly severe load shedding, with no power for periods of up to 16 hours at a time.
The nationwide electricity shortage has led to heavy load shedding throughout the provincial capital, but the residents of NA 120 have been particularly hard hit, facing sleepless nights and interrupted daytime schedules.
The localities within NA 120 include Rewaz Garden, Chowburji, Rajgarh, Nawan Kot, Krishan Nagar, Sant Nagar, Mozang, Gowalmandi, Karim Park, Bilal Ganj, Urdu Bazaar, Ravi Road, Sanda, Beadon Road, Temple Road, Mohni Road, Kasurpura, large parts of the Lower Mall and some of the busy markets such as Anarkali, Hall Road, Urdu Bazaar, Bilal Ganj and Lytton Road. Many residents of these areas are of the view that they were being punished for unknown reasons.
Locals said that they usually have seven to eight hours of power outages in a day, but recently they often have periods of load shedding that go over 16 hours. They said that the scheduled power cuts were for one hour after every two hours, but every other day or so the electricity supply was further suspended because of feeders and transformers tripping or electricity wires burning due to overload.
The residents of commercial areas of the constituency said that they have to face the worst situations, and 15 to 16 hours of power outage have become routine in Bilal Ganj, Sardar Chappel, Band Road, Karim Park, Urdu Bazaar, Ravi Road and Lytton Road areas. They said that due to these prolonged power outages, their businesses have been destroyed.
A resident of Karim Park by the name of Muhammad Azhar said, “I believe we are being punished for voting for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) candidates who ran against the prime minister and his provincial assembly candidates.” He said that LESCO subdivision staffers accuse the distribution company’s load managing section for the failure of transformers and so on.
An inhabitant of Mohni Road named Naveed Riaz Qureshi, who runs a factory producing electrical switches, said that his business has collapsed due to prolonged load shedding and he is considering relocating his factory at least out of NA-120, which he called ‘a curse’.
Arshad Chugtai of Bilal Ganj said that the present situation was no different than how it was in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government. He claimed that LESCO has been given the authority to prepare its own load management plan and the subdivisions within NA-120 were carrying out enhanced load shedding under special directions from higher authorities.
When Pakistan Today tried to contact LESCO’s Public Relation Department, the concerned spokesman did not attend the call.
However, Bilal Ganj Sub Divisional Officer Muhammad Riaz denied the charges of increased load shedding by his subdivision, and said that they have nothing to do with the electricity supply. He said that the load management section was responsible for suspending the electricity supply from the feeders. He added that neither his subdivision nor any other was preparing their own load shedding schedule.
Although, he did admit that transformer failures, distribution network faults and the overloading of grid-stations and transmission lines may cause prolonged power outages. Otherwise, he said, they were not carrying out any exceptional treatment with the inhabitants of this area.