Pakistan's Kandia tehsil residents living without electricity

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], January 16 (ANI): Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kandia tehsil's residents are living without electricity as their mini power stations (MHPs) were washed away in floods, the Dawn reported.
There were around 50 MHPs in Kandia tehsil but all of them were swept away in floods, locals said, adding that they had restored some of the stations on a self-support basis.
"An MHP was built on the Thoti River, which supplied electricity to Zango Kool, but it was washed away by floods. Ever since we go to Thoti Bazaar to charge our cell phones in Amir Jan's shop because we no longer have the power supply," Ijaz Ahmad, a daily wager told Dawn.
Last year's floods, in August, left many people without food and electricity. This flood also killed several people in Kohistan and Lower and Upper Kolai Pallas districts.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, 23 people were killed and eight injured in the three districts. PDMA and the district administration don't have data on MHPs, the Dawn reported.
Saifullah, an activist, said Thoti had been a hub of MHPs and watermills but now the situation is different. "After the MHPs swept locals away, we rehabilitated three of them after collecting Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2,000 per household," he added but said they still faced low voltage issues.
"We had a 25-kilowatt turbine installed on Thoti River and had enough electricity to run home appliances in this far-off mountainous village. But, our power station was gone in floods, plunging us into darkness," Saifullah said.
People built MHPs on riverbanks by constructing water channels, and installing turbines and power production units (generators) from 5KV to 200KV. Each station costs from Rs200,000 to Rs2 million, according to the Dawn.
The rainfalls followed by flash floods and aided by crumbling infrastructure and insufficient government response mechanisms caused havoc in Balochistan in 2022. As per the situation reports of the National Disaster Management Authority, as of November, 336 people died and 187 were injured in the aftermath of the floods in Balochistan, as per The News International report.
Over 2,220 kilometres of roads were destroyed and 350,000 houses were washed away due to floods. Flood victims living in Balochistan will face a difficult situation as winters in the region are often harsh. Naseerabad, Jaffarabad and Sohbatpur districts were worst affected by floods, according to The News International on Sunday.
After six months of floods, the locals have a long list of complaints against the government. The locals have said that the government gave them more assistance in the 2010 floods, which caused less damage. Government officials in an interview with The News International rejected the claims made by local residents.
According to the officials, the government has provided free wheat seed to small farmers in Balochistan. Officials said the wheat seed would be helpful for farmers in the cultivation of wheat in the ongoing season as floods had swept away seed stockpiles in many places, risking a severe wheat shortage next year, The News International reported. (ANI)