Ikram Ullah Khalil
PESHAWAR: The long hour power suspension and spread of Dengue fever makes the lives of residents Pawaka village miserable as they were facing these problems from the past some years but unfortunately the elected representatives and authorities were not in a mood to end the miseries of the people.
Pawaka village of Peshawar, an old village and adjacent to the University town area, which is one of the posh area of provincial capital, but still the residents were neglected by the elected MNA and MPA and they were left on the mercy of PESCO.
The spread of Dengue fever were on the rise and the biggest reason of it is the prolonged hour power suspension in the area.
According to details, Pawaka, the old village and near to the posh area of University Town Peshawar with the population of around five to six thousand and they are facing power suspension from the last three days without any reason.
The residents told The Frontier Post that despite paying huge electricity bills to PESCO, still the people are waiting for the provision of electricity in the area. They said that the Dengue is spreading in the locality of village Pawaka everyday and on the other hand Coronavirus is also affecting the people of the area, while the PESCO has stopped electricity of the village due to unknown reasons. The people of Pawaka village added that the power outage makes their miserable as they were not been to continue their routine life without the electricity.
In the past the residents record their protests time to time and meet various officials of PESCO, but the problem was still existing and increasing day by day.
Resident of the Pawaka, Ijaz Khan Khalil claimed that they were facing the unscheduled and prolonged hours electricity suspension from the past some years and especially after the PTI-led government comes into power the area was badly targeted and faced unscheduled and prolonged hours load shedding and the duration of the power load shedding were more than 12 hours in the village.
Mr. Mukhtiar Khan, a resident of Pawaka village told The Frontier Post that it is very hard for people of the area to take rest in this hot weather without the provision of electricity and especially the women and the children were most affected in this situation. He added that power load shedding and continues tripping of the electricity destroyed their electrical equipment.
The residents also blamed the elected representatives of the constituency MNA Mr. Sher Ali Arbab and Mr. Pir Fida for neglecting the area and they not even bothered to contact the people of the area after getting votes from them in the general election and left the area on the mercy of PESCO.
The villagers were compelled to stay in fields under the trees along with their families, especially children, because due to hot weather it is not possible to stay in their houses without electricity.
The students also complained that they were not been able to continue their studies due to non availability/supply of electricity. They informed this scribe that their studies have been affected and we have a lot of concerned for future.
It is pertinent to mention here that when there is no electricity, its mean there is no water in the area because the tube wells of the village were running on electricity and the water problems were also occurred in the area due to non availability of electricity.
A senior citizen of the area also claimed that our families along with their children searching drinking water and they take the water for their drinking from the nearby areas. From the last some days the residents of the village visited the offices of PESCO and requested for supply of electricity and stage protests but the PESCO officials failed to restore supply of electricity to Pawaka village.
The lives of female were much tightened due to hot weather and non availability of electricity. The residents of Pawaka village appeal the Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Minister for Power, Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Chairman of WAPDA / PESCO to restore the electricity of the village and if the load is over please connect our feeder with the feeder University Town Peshawar.
Ishtiaq Khan, Member of civil society claimed that it is now a routine of PESCO to suspend power supply after every rain and the residents of the area will be waiting for the power supply even after the hours of rain. It is not possible for the residents of the area to continue their routine in the 12 hours load shedding in a day.
A laborer told to The Frontier Post that power load shedding had also affected his livelihood because he cannot afford solar system to protect his family from hot weather during the Coronavirus pandemic and spread of Dengue in the area had made their lives vulnerable.
The residents added that school going children cannot take proper rest which had badly impacted their physical and mental potentials. The parents claimed that children are complaining regarding their health issues while spreading of dengue and new wave of Coronavirus is reporting on regular basis.
The residents claimed that they had knocked the doors PESCO along with other competent authorities but their grievances cannot address till today.
The residents threatened that if their demands regarding provision of electricity and ending of load shedding in the area were not fulfilled then they shall be compel to arrange sit-in in front of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to approach legislators for their basic right.
