By by Qaiser Khan Afridi
Staging a rally on Gunj Road, the protesters torched power bills, burnt tyres and blocked the busy Gunj Road for all kinds of traffic for one and half hour. The emotionally charged residents were chanting slogans against the government and Pesco authorities.
The speakers on the occasion said the current increase in the power tariff coupled with the prolonged loadshedding had compelled them to burn down their bills. They said if they were paying the bills on time, then the government should provide them electricity, otherwise, there was no need to send inflated bills.
The speakers said they cast votes in favour of the Awami National Party to resolve their problems, but both the federal and provincial governments had failed to provide relief to the masses. This has become clear that the people are losing patience over the hours-long loadshedding, which not only is affecting businesses but also causing numerous problems to the people.
People of the Frontier province, particularly those of Peshawar, are experiencing 12-hour power breakdown in the urban area against the announced nine-hour while those in the rural area are witnessing more of that.
The frequent power outages had made life miserable and created problems for industrialists, traders, shopkeepers, students and patients. In Saddar Bazaar, one could witness generators in front of almost all the shops, which were not only creating air and noise pollution but also inflicting huge losses on the shoppers.
Traffic signals don’t work when power is out and it results into long queues of vehicles on main roads directed by traffic wardens manually. Likewise, bank customers could be seen rotting in queues for their deposits and withdrawals due to frequent and unpredictable power outages.
Small generators installed at some banks could not run computers and bring the whole banking activities to a standstill. Power is hardly available for three or four hours during duty hours of the banks, creating problems for costumers and causing embarrassment to banks. President of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mohammad Asaf told ‘The News’ that Pesco was cutting power supply from eight to 10 hours against the promised five hours.
Like the industrialists and traders of Karachi, he warned that they would also torch the electricity bills, as they were not benefiting from the power. He said the unannounced loadshedding was creating immense difficulties and that the wheel of industry might not keep on running for too long in such a situation.