Protesters storm grid stations in Peshawar,Lakki Marwat

PESHAWAR: Power consumers on Thursday stormed the grid stations on Dilazak Road in Peshawar and Serai Naurang town of Lakki Marwat district to protest the long power outages.

The first incident took place in the rural area of provincial capital where villagers from several villages forced their way into the power feeder and restored the electricity supply to their area. They allegedly manhandled the staff deputed there.

A Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) spokesman said the power distribution company had approached the police to register a case against the attackers.

In the second such incident, citizens stormed the power grid station in Serai Naurang town of the Lakki Mawat district and ransacked the facility.

According to the spokesman for Pesco, people linked to the Mamakhel grid station of Serai Naurang attacked the grid station at 11 am. He said the attackers were armed with sticks and stones. They forced into the grid station and bullied and threatened the Pesco staff deputed there.

The spokesman said the attackers threw wires, batteries and power meters out of the grid station. This caused a heavy loss to Pesco.

The protesters forcibly switched off the power supply button and stopped the electricity supply to almost the entire town. The Pesco spokesman said there was a high rate of power theft in areas being supplied electricity from Mamakhel power feeders. The line losses were 68 percent and people did not pay for power consumption.

The spokesman said power management was being done at the feeder for these reasons. “The consumers wanted 12 hours of load management on the feeder which was impossible,” he explained.