Villagers block Haripur-Taxila Road to protest unannounced loadshedding

HARIPUR: The charged residents of a village in Tehsil Khanpur on Tuesday blocked the busy Haripur-Taxila Road near Tarnawa for over two hours to protest prolonged unannounced loadshedding.

The protesters, who included women children and elderly men from village Tarnawa in Khanpur, gathered on the busy Haripur-Taxila Road and blocked it by placing stones and burning tyers. They chanted slogans against Pesco and elected MPA and MNA.

The protesters said that unannounced loadshedding and low voltage problems were brought into the notice of local Pesco staff, MPA and MNA but they failed to address their genuine complaint, forcing them to take to the street. They said that due to loadshedding and low voltage they were facing water crisis and their women and children were forced to fetch water on their heads from distant areas.

The local Pesco officers and police held negotiations with the protesters but they refused to clear the road unless they were assured of ending unscheduled loadshedding and improving voltage problem in their village.

Meanwhile, the MNA Babar Nawaz, who happened to be in the area, approached the protesters and succeeded in getting the road cleared on his assurance that there would be no unannounced loadshedding and the voltage problem would be resolved within the next couple of days.