Upper Chitral: power outages make life miserable

BOONI, Nov 17: It is too early to resort to loadshedding in the midst of November on the pretext of shortage of water for the power house in Reshun, said a resident in Parwak while talking to Chitraltoday.net. He further said there was certainly no shortage of water in the Reshun Gol at this time. Light goes in every second day for four hours, especially in the dinner time, in the areas north of Booni as the employees of the power utility company put off link in the electric chamber. As a result, people in most part of Mastuj passes their night without power, he said. It seems we are living in the old days of lanterns, he added. Our population has been rising and so is the demand for electricity but we are still depending on the same power capacity which we had a number of years back, added other residents. One of the residents talking to Chitraltoday.net observed that loadshedding in upper Chitral had become excruciating. He said the powerhouse in Reshun had not been utilized to its full capacity. Another resident said many organizations were working in upper Chitral especially hospitals where electricity was needed the most. Many patients come from far-off areas of upper Chitral to Booni for treatment while others come here in connection with their official works. A carpenter told Chitraltoday.net that their businessmen was also suffering a lot because of the scarcity of electricity and their economic condition was getting even worse. The residents said the the Reshun powerhouse had been established on funds provided by foreign companies in return for the local people’s decision to abandon the cultivation of charas. He, however, regretted that after the people abandoned cultivation of charas, they were now not being provided with electricity from the power house. They told chitraltoday.net that many people, including local politicians like Syed Sardar Hussain, Saidul Aman (late), father of Khwaja Nizamudin Advocate, and Abu Lais Ramdas, had observed a hunger strike in Reshun when the powehouse was being built in early 1990s against the political leadership of Chitral for their injustices with the people of upper Chitral. The local residents said misuse of electricity should be avoided which was not good for national interests. Strong action should be taken by SHYDO against such offenders and we should not put under extra burden on the power generating machines. They are our assets and we should take care of them, they added.]]>