Rawalpindi - The 20-hour long power cut has added to the miseries of residents of Bank Colony, Mohra Faqeeran, Baryan and Kashmir Colony during the holy month of Ramazan.

The power remained suspended for 20 hours after the transformer supplying electricity to the areas exploded with a big bang on Thursday.

Resultantly, the residents had to prepare for sehari dark while several Moazans were unable to announce prayer call in the mosques. Similarly, severe water shortage also hit the localities because of load shedding. Many residents were unable to sleep.

People protested against WAPDA high-ups for suspension of electricity and demanded Chief Engineer to replace the faulty transformer with 100KV new transformer so that the lingering issue could be solved.

According to details, the electricity transformer of 50KV developed fault in Dhamial Sub Division at 2am while plunging the areas of Bank Colony, Mohra Faqeeran, Mohra Baryan and Kashmir Colony into complete darkness. The residents came out of their houses and sat under open sky to avoid sizzling heat. Severe water shortage hit the areas while the food and other fruits put into freezers also got rotten due to load shedding.

“This small faulty transformer is developed after every four or five days and we face load shedding. We have requested WAPDA high-ups and SDO to change the transformer but nobody is listening to us,” said Khalid Khan, a resident. He said they could not prepare Sehri for fast in darkness.

Another resident Shakil said, “The lingering issue of faulty transformer is testing our nerves now and we would launch protest movement against WAPDA. For last 20 hours, we are living without electricity. The weather is hot and we don’t have even water for shower,” he said. Many other residents condemned the negligence and slow pace of work of WAPDA and demanded Prime Minister of Pakistan to take notice of the issue.

SDO Dhamial Sub Division Muhammad Shafi, when contacted, said the small transformer exploded due to overload while the office of Chief Engineer IESCO has released a new 100KV transformer for the area. He said he had sent a proposal to CE Office in August 2016 for replacing the faulty transformer. He said the issue of suspension of electricity would now be resolved after installing new transformer.

Till the filing of this report, WAPDA officials could not install new transformer in the area while the residents were bracing the harsh weather.   

On the other hand, WAPDA also observed unannounced load shedding in Airport Housing Society irking the residents a lot.

ISRAR AHMED