Nowshera traders protest power outages

NOWSHERA: The traders and business community on Thursday condemned the unannounced electricity loadshedding and asked Prime Minister Mian Shehbaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Energy Owais Leghari, and WAPDA chairman to address the issue

Speaking at a press conference, Traders Association President Khalid Afridi, after holding a meeting with senior public representatives, former nazims and councillors said that since December 1, unannounced load-shedding had been carried out under the guise of maintenance.

He alleged Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) officials were involved in disconnecting electricity connections, seizing meters, and providing illegal connections to others.Khalid Afridi said that the electricity supply was cut off from 8 am to 4 pm daily under the guise of maintenance, even though no repair work was being carried out.

He said that the practice of frequent power outages had severely affected businesses, especially those dependent on electricity.The traders’ leader added that areas in Nowshera City faced outages of up to 18 hours, while parts of Nowshera Kalan experienced up to 15-hour outages.

He said that the burden of excessive taxes coupled with unannounced loadshedding had made life miserable for the people.Khalid Afridi warned that if the Pesco chief did not rectify the situation, they would be compelled to launch a strong protest movement.