People protest outages in Matta

MINGORA: Thousands of residents of Matta tehsil staged a protest against unscheduled and prolonged power outages in Swat district.

Irked by the unscheduled and prolonged load-shedding and low voltage of electricity, the residents of four union councils, Chaparyal, Gwaliray, Bar Thana and Biha marched towards the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) office. The protesters, led by Syed Izharullah and other elders of the area, staged a public meeting outside the Wapda office and chanted slogans against authorities.

Addressing the protesters, Syed Izaharullah said that they faced the hours-long load-shedding and low voltage. Wapda and army officials intervened and talked to the protesters.

Wapda’s Sultan Rashid and Colonel Shahid Bashir, Rehmat Ali, Khalid Aman and Waqar Ahmed had successful talks with the leaders of the protestors and promised them that within 15 days, unscheduled and frequent power outages and low voltage issues would be resolved. After talks, Matta Assistant Commissioner Jan Muhammad, Major Saqib and local elders shared the details of successful dialogue with the protesters, after which they dispersed.