Angry residents protest 16-hour power outage in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Angry people from a number of villages on Kohat Road and Ring Road on Friday staged a protest at three grid stations against 16-hour daily power breakdowns in the provincial capital.

The villagers led by Member of the Provincial Assembly of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Fazal Ilahi, Nasr-o-Minallah and others were workers and supporters of a number of political parties, including incumbent and former local bodies representatives.

A large number of villagers from Hazarkhwani, Bahader Killay, Dora Road, Surizai, Garhi Qamardin, Garhi Atta Muhammad, Tor Baba, Achar, Jabba Sohail and other towns staged demonstration outside the grid stations on the Ring Road and Kohat Road to protest the 16 hours-long breakdowns in their areas.

The PTI MPA said the Pesco officials complain they were short of 72 percent staff but the fact is that most of the jobs including repairing transformers, finding fault in a line and other petty issues are all done by the people themselves. He said the people of KP have more rights on electricity and gas than anyone else.

“There are villages on both sides of Kohat Road where power is supplied only for 4 to 6 hours a day,” said one of the protesters. Pesco authorities have expressed concern over the rising incidents of electricity theft in several areas, which has significantly affected revenue recovery.

However, the protesters alleged that the staff of Pesco, supported by their unions, were involved in power theft. They said consumers have to pay the price in the form of heavy bills as well as face 12 to 18 hours of power shutdown in rural towns.

Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had warned Pesco and the federal government last year to reduce the duration of power breakdowns or he would take control of the system and offices.A number of offices and grid stations are stormed by the protesters every summer for the last many years due to long breakdowns. The government and authorities are yet to find a solution to the issue that affects millions of people every day.