Protesters storm Pesco offices in Swabi against loadshedding

SWABI: The protesters on Thursday forcibly entered the offices of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) during a demonstration against prolonged loadshedding.

The protest call had been given by the Swabi Action Committee and Da Haq Awaz.The protesters reached district headquarters despite the scorching heat.They were holding placards inscribed with different slogans against Wapda and Pesco while chanting slogans against elected leaders. The protesters opened the main entrance gate of the Pesco office by force and police deployed at the building did not take any action while the staff had already locked their office and moved peacefully aside.

They locked the main entrance gate. The main demand was zero loadshedding. Anoother demand was the provision of electricity at a concessional rate to the consumers in the district.The protesters flayed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ministers belonging to the district, MNAs Asad Qaiser and, Shahram Khan Tarakai and the MPAs from the area after accusing them of doing nothing to resolve the issue.

The speakers said the 18-hour loadshedding experienced by the local people was a cruel act. Just take the example, we were not spared even during the Eid days. Masood Jabar and Javid Iqbal Inqilabi from the Pakistan People’s Party said Tarbela Dam generated power up to 4888 megawatt, but still, Swabi remained deprived of electricity.

It was decided to stage a hunger strike while sitting in the Pesco offices in front of an executive engineer’s (operation) office. They said the hunger strike would continue in the Pesco office premises till meeting their demands.