Eight to ten hours forced load shedding has added to the miseries of the people of Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh. Mill owners have closed their one shift rendering thousands of workers jobless. Massive load shedding adds to the plight of dengue-scared citizens of South Punjab where scheduled and unscheduled blackouts are once again on the rise.
After a short span of relief, unscheduled load shedding is on the rise once again across the city with some areas observing a 12-hour blackout during the hot and dry weather conditions. This menace has multiplied the problems of the citizens. The residents of the Writers colony, Gulberg, Gulgasht, Bosan Road, Wilayatabad, Bohar Gate, Haramgate, Delhi Gate, Lohari Gate, Hussain Agahi, Farooqpura, Chowk Shah Abbas, Mumtazabad, Qasimpur Colony and Qasim Bela said that 8 to 12-hour load shedding is being observed in their area for the last four days.
"We are unable to sleep at night due to the massive load shedding during night hours, first from 10 to 11pm, then from 12 to 1am and later from 4 to 5am, 7 to 8 and 9 to 10am," said Abdul Muneeb, Habibullah and other residents of Hassan Parwana colony. They said that 12-hour load shedding was carried out in the area on Monday from 10pm to 10am, saying that the daytime load shedding is in addition to the six-hour load-shedding at night.
Another citizen and resident of Hassanad Muhammad Saleem, Naseer Hussain said that load shedding has increased in the area, making it difficult for the children and infants to go to sleep. "Me and my wife had to fan our one-year-old baby the whole night in fear of mosquitoes and because of the hot weather," he said, adding: "It is strange that the media is highlighting the dengue issue but ignoring the load shedding issue totally."
Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) Chief Executive Guftar Ahmed said that there is an electricity shortfall of 1,100 megawatts (MW) in MEPCO jurisdiction and they received only 1,900MW against a demand of 3,000MW. In order to manage this shortfall we have to carry out a five-hour load shedding in the city and a 12-hour load shedding outside Multan in MEPCO jurisdiction.