By Bureau report
The residents of Gulberg locality of Peshawar have asked the authorities to end the ongoing unannounced loadshedding in their area. Talking to The News on Tuesday, the elders of the area complained that the prolonged loadshedding had not only affected their routine life but also the studies of their school-going children for the last several weeks.
“We have been complaining to the authorities concerned but no improvement has been witnessed despite the fact they assured us to reduce the duration of loadshedding,” said a resident, Shahnawaz.
“We appeal to the authorities to rid us of the excessive loadshedding,” he said, adding that they would come out on roads in protest if their genuine demand were not met within next few days.
NOWSHERA: Hundreds of frustrated farmers of union council Kheshgi kept Nowshera-Charsadda Road blocked for all kinds of traffic Tuesday to register their resentment over the hours long loadshedding.
A protest rally led by Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran wa Zamindaran, NWFP, was attended by a great number of farmers. The farmers lamented the fact that due to consistent loadshedding, their crops had been destroyed because they were unable to run tube-wells to provide water to crops.
The infuriated farmers chanted slogans against Wapda and also staged a sit-in in front of a police post. Demanding immediate halt to the loadshedding, they urged that at least tube-wells should be exempted from power outages. The farmers demanded of the authorities to stop power outages, otherwise, they would be forced to opt for more stern agitation.
DAGGAR: Students of Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and residents of the area blocked Peshawar-Buner Road for four hours against the 30-hour long loadshedding on Tuesday. The protest procession, which was taken out from the Government Degree College and led by the IJT leaders Muhammad Israr, Irshad, Israr Khan, Arsal Khan and Khurshid, blocked the main GT Road at the main College Chowk.
The protesters went to the grid station for talks with the grid administration. The protesters chanting slogans against the Pesco authorities and marched towards the District Headquarters Hospital where the relatives of the patients also joined them. Later, all of them blocked the road for the third time near the hospital bridge.
Meanwhile, the district police officer (DPO) Syed Zubair Shah and district naib nazim Ghulam Mustafa rushed to the scene and held talks with the protestors. However, the road was opened after protesting students were assured that a proper schedule for the loadshedding would be issued today (Wednesday).
MARDAN: Local people Tuesday staged protest against Pesco to protest hours-long power outages that have become a routine in the district.
Residents of Kas Koroona, Baghdada and Mayar staged a demonstration in front of Pesco office. They blocked main Mardan-Malakand Road for all kinds of traffic for some time to press the government to pay attention to their miseries.
The protesters raised full throat slogans against Pesco authorities. They said their areas have been plunged into darkness for the last 18 hours. They also condemned the NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti for not taking any action against the persistent and daylong power breakdowns.
They warned the concerned authorities to mend their ways, or else they will opt for violent protests. They also threatened to attack the offices of Pesco, if the duration of the loadshedding was not reduced to three hours in a day. However, they opened the main road when the local police officials came to the spot and assured them to resolve the issue immediately.