LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: People experienced the worst loadshedding in almost all parts of the country, including Lahore and twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, as the electricity shortfall reached 7,800 megawatts on Sunday.
The cities had to face 12 to 14 hours of outages, while villages and towns were inflicted with 18-20 hours loadshedding, despite tall claims of the government authorities of overcoming the energy crisis in the country. Outages-hit people came on roads and streets in various cities and towns to stage demonstrations against long and unannounced loadshedding hours.
They set old tyres on fire and blocked roads. Family members of cotton power-looms workers, including women and children, brought out a symbolic coffin of the rulers in Dadkot and shouted slogans against the government.
According to labour union sources, the persistent loadshedding has rendered 1,500 labourers jobless in and suburbs of Hafizabad.
In Mianwali, loadshedding hours have reached up to 22 hours daily, making life miserable in the area. In Kamoke, three cases have been registered against unidentified protesters for attacking a grid station and destroying equipment and official documents.