Sharjah: The joy of the power restoration was short-lived for residents who soon had to suffer for more than 28 hours without any electricity.
The power outage has brought back the memories of last year's fiasco when the city was left without power for the whole month of Ramadan.
"My wife is nine months pregnant and we had no electricity for almost 28 hours, which started from 9.15am on Saturday. We have no other option but to stay at home because we do not know anybody who lives in Sharjah," said Nithesh, who lives in Industrial Area 11.
His wife, Nivetha, pointed out that as she is unable to sleep on the bed and she has resorted to sleeping on the floor.
"My 61-year-old mother is also staying with us and she is finding it very difficult to stay in such conditions. It is very bad what the authorities are making us go through," she said.
Back again
The power outage that affected residents for the past week has resumed once again and affected all industrial areas across the city yesterday, which is not only populated by workers but by families as well.
The main concern for residents during the outage was that despite the lack of electricity in residential buildings, the neon lights at supermarkets as well as the street lights along University City remained on during the evening.
"There has been no power from 9am on Saturday and it continued after 5am the following morning. That is more than 20 hours of no electricity.
"I have to go to work and come back home hot, hungry, tired and upset. We do not know what the real problem is and the authorities are not saying anything. Whatever it is, it would be better if they gave us a warning in advance as to when it will happen," said Luz Osumo, a resident of Industrial Area 1, which is located near Sharjah City Centre.
"Again the power cut started in Abu Shagara and has gone off again since 9pm on Saturday. Like before, power is still available in the park across the street, and this is completely unfair," said R. Sivakumar.
"To avoid the heat we are going to beaches and to the mall and can only return home by 1am when everything is closed. But still they see the power has not restored.
"People with children are the most who suffer because they have to study in such extreme hot conditions," said Jan, from Industrial Area 2.
"The Sharjah power outage has turned into a fiasco of sorts. Though power is supposedly restored in many parts of Sharjah, there continue to be intermittent blackouts in residential and industrial areas. With the unavailability of the telephone, fax, internet, it has become impossible to get business transactions moving, further bringing things to a halt in spite of our efforts to run business on generator power," said Razak Vazhayil.
