Saudi tent-dweller waits 50 years for power

A poor old Saudi man has applied for power connection since he moved into a tent nearly 50 years ago and is still waiting for his request to be accepted.

The man said he had been to the electricity department for hundreds of times but they have refused his application on the grounds he lives in a tent which is isolated from other residential areas in the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom.

Sabq Arabic language daily did not identify the man but said he set up his tent in the central town of Mudhannab to accommodate him, his wife and 36-year-old son, who is unemployed and has never been to school.

His wife’s blind sister, who is as old as him, had lived with them in the same tent before he set up another tent for her next to his tent.

“I have tied my wife’s sister to a long rope tied to her bed so whenever she needs to go out, she will be able to return to her tent,” he said.

The paper quoted the man as saying he lives on little social aid as well as alms by residents of a nearby village and shepherds who pass by his tent.

“I appeal for the authorities and for benevolent people to help us…my son needs a job and our living conditions are continuously getting worse…I have asked to have electricity hundreds of times but my request has been rejected,” he said.

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