Drosh villages without power as transformers stop working

DROSH, July 30: For the last over one month a number of villages in the periphery of the Drosh town have been without electricity as the transformers have developed faults. It may be noted here that about 5,000 people live in these villages. The residents of the Pothian Deh, Chakidam, Azad Dam and Katar Dam villages said that with the onset of the summer season the outdated transformers in their areas went out of order. After repeated complaints and requests to the local Wadpa officials, technicians were sent to the area who asked the residents to collect funds and deposit it with them. The residents said that they collectively paid Rs.40,000 for each of the transformers after which the Wapda staff visited the areas and claimed to have repaired the transformers. However, after a few hours the transformers stopped working again and then with the arrival of Ramazan the Wapda staff disappeared. The residents said that without electricity, their lives had become miserable and there was no one to listen to their grievances. They said that despite payment of the money, they were still waiting for the repair of the transformers. They also came hard on their elected representatives – MNA and MPA – and said that despite taking votes the legislators had left them at the mercy of the inefficient Wapda staff. They said that the government should resolve their issue within a week otherwise they would block the Chitral-Peshawar road in protest.—Jahan Zeb]]>