ALPURI: The prolonged power outages have made life extremely difficult for the people in various areas of Shangla, especially the district headquarters Alpuri and nearby villages. According to local residents, the unannounced daily loadshedding carried out by WAPDA in the name of faults and maintenance now lasts more than 12 hours. Because of this, household life and commercial activities are being badly affected.
Shangla district itself produces seventy two megawatts of electricity, while an additional 12 megawatts are supplied to the system from the Karora Hydropower Project. Despite this, the district’s total requirement does not exceed seven megawatts. Even then, the people of Shangla are facing excessive loadshedding, feeder shutdowns, overbilling and daily power cuts. The people have termed it a serious injustice and a failure of the government.
Local traders and industrialists said that the continuous power outages had created severe difficulties. Traders said the administration kept changing excuses, sometimes saying it was a fault, sometimes line work, sometimes a technical issue, but the electricity did not come.
People are extremely worried, household women are facing problems, and residents say water pumps have stopped because of the outages, and washing clothes has also become difficult. Students cannot attend online classes or continue their regular studies.
Parents said that there was darkness for hours, and the children’s education was being affected. They said their own land and rivers were producing electricity, but taking advantage of the power facility had become a distant dream.
The main town Alpuri and other areas experience daily shutdowns of power lines. According to local residents, in many areas including Alpuri, the power lines are switched off at specific times every day without prior notice.
The residents said they complained at every level, but the Pesco staff always said there was a fault, line work, or an issue in the grid.They demanded the deputy commissioner Shangla, the Pesco authorities to end the unannounced loadshedding immediately, daily outages in the name of faults and maintenance and ensure uninterrupted power supply to the people.
