Skip to main content

Protests erupt against power outages in KP amid heat wave

PESHAWAR: As the heat wave persists, different localities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are experiencing prolonged power outages daily.

In Peshawar, the power consumers, including women on Saturday held protest meetings in different areas against the power outages and demanded smooth power supply to their areas.

The main Charsadda road remained blocked for some time, which also affected the traffic flow. The protesters said the situation was even worse in rural areas, where sixteen to twenty hours of power outages have become order of the day.

“It is very difficult to spend even an hour without electricity in such extreme heat,” one Mushtaq Khan of Bakhshipul said.

Criticising the Peshawar Electric Supply company (Pesco), he said whenever complaints were logged with the relevant authorities; they stated due to power theft, the area has been marked as a high-loss zone.

“But since we pay our bills regularly, why are we being deprived of electricity?” he questioned, urging Pesco to avoid power outages in their areas.

Likewise, residents of Pejagi, and other localities complained about prolonged power outages. A Pakistan People’s Party provincial office-bearer said that power outages had made their lives extremely miserable.

They said power outages on the pretext of high-loss feeders are injustice to those who are neither involved in electricity theft nor avoid paying their bills.

It may be mentioned that Pesco had disconnected the power supply to tube-wells in Shaheen Muslim Town, Gulbahar, and other city areas, resulting in a severe water shortage as well.

“If this issue isn’t resolved promptly, it may lead to confrontation between operators and the public, as the preparations are underway for protests on Phundoo Road. Despite paying bills, water supply closure is deemed an act of oppression,” they said.

Residents of Haji Camp, Sethi Town, and surrounding areas have been without electricity since morning. “We regularly pay monthly bills, even then Pesco resorts to prolonged power outages,” a consumer Hassan Ali commented.

Another consumer, Sahibzada said that those living in the main city areas were experiencing extreme heat and humidity, severely affecting the health, work and routine activity.

According to reports, the people in Mardan, Pabbi Nowshera and Charsadda are also facing severe problems due to heat wave. The prolonged power cuts, frequent tripping and low voltage have also caused shortage of water.

A Pesco spokesman, however, said that in some areas power suspension (power shutdown) from 6am to 12 noon was due to routine maintenance work while the heat wave was also multiplying the problems. He said the current demand of electricity was 4000 megawatt while supply was 2800 MW, a gap of 1200 MW.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2025



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/Kd92wbr
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explainer: Iran’s economy faces rocky road amid rising prices, falling currency

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitchell Starc surpasses Wasim Akram as most prolific left-arm pacer in Test history

Australian veteran Mitchell Starc became the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history on Thursday, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram. The 35-year-old bagged England’s Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago. It moved him past Wasim, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen. Wasim played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth. Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India’s Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test. After that he will have New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/xclHiX2
Post a Comment
Read more

Global reaction to potential Israel-Hezbollah ‘spiral of violence’

World leaders on Tuesday sounded the alarm over fears of a wider conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in two decades in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds. After nearly a year of cross-border fire since the Gaza offensive erupted, Israeli bombardment on Monday killed 558 people in Lebanon, including 50 children, according to the country’s health ministry. The toll — the highest since Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went to war in mid-2006 — raised fears of an all-out conflict engulfing the Middle East. ‘Tens of thousands’ flee: UN UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely alarmed by the escalating situation… and the large number of civilian casualties, including children and women,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” United Nations refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said in Geneva. ‘Spiral of violence’: US Israel’s clo...
Post a Comment
Read more