protest against the unscheduled and unannounced power outages.In Multan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) workers held a demonstration at the MDA Chowk, which was also attended by a huge number of citizens. The protesters, while holding banners, placards and hand held fans, chanted slogans against the government.
In Multan, the people burnt tyres and raised slogans against Wapda and the government while protesting. Also, prisoners chanted slogans while standing on the barrack roofs when the transformer of the jail became out of order.
Various areas of Hyderabad including Lateefabad, Paredabad, Pakka Qila, Gari Khata, Resham Gali and Shahi Bazaar are facing power cuts from 4:00am.
On the other hand, residents of Lahore and Karachi had to go through a blackout on the third Ramazan at Sehr time. Owing to technical faults, Lines Area, Gulshan Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Johar, Federal-B Area and Landhi and various other areas of Karachi went through prolonged power suspension.
The K-electric authorities stated that teams had been formed to correct the faults.In Lahore, loadshedding could not be prevented in the areas of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mustafa Town, Thokar Niaz Baig and Shalimar.
Earlier, in Peshawar’s area Armar, citizens besieged the Wapda House under the leadership of forest minister.
Moreover, distressed by the prolonged power outages, residents took to the streets in protest against the government in Sukkur, Toba Tek Singh, Pangrio, Tahrparkar, Uch Sharif, Zhob, Larkana and other cities.
Protests are also underway in various cities against the unannounced loadshedding which has created severe problems for those fasting.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif warned the electric supply companies that he would not tolerate power outages during Ramazan.
Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif said that the people were protesting against loadshedding in some parts of the country because collection of bills had plummeted there. He said in some areas, people did not pay their bills and the government could not supply electricity to such areas.
He expressed these views while talking to Geo News. He said demand for electricity rose with the advent of Ramazan. He said the demand had risen to 21,000MW since the first day of Ramazan.
He said the government was doing its best to control the loadshedding. He said supply of electricity to industry was stopped from 7:00pm to 4:00am during Ramazan so that people were not affected by loadshedding at the time of Sehr, Iftar and Taraveeh.