Thousands protest inflated power bills

LAHORE:Thousands of protesting people have choked city roads for hours over inflated power bills on Monday. The biggest protest was observed on Upper Mall where residents of nearby localities blocked the road in protest against what they called issuance of excessively and unreasonably high electricity bills. Chanting slogans against the authorities, they were of the view that a massive surge in electricity bills have come at a time when inflation already wreak havoc on poor masses. Hundreds of demonstrators blocked both sides of the road and burnt their electricity bills.

Consequently, commuters on Monday remained stuck in one of the worst traffic jams for hours in the city. They also shouted slogans against prolonged loadshedding and power outages especially during night time. Despite presence of police, protestors blocked main road for vehicular traffic and staged a sit-in. They even used Barton for forcibly stopping vehicles movement. The protesters said that the power failure and excessive utility bills had made their lives miserable on every count.

Similar protests were held at Walton Road, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Tezab Ahata, Gawalmandi and Multan Road where traffic got jammed for hours, creating severe inconvenience for the commuters.

Despite hot and humid weather, citizens protested against excessive electricity bills. They burned the bills saying that exorbitant charging of fuel price adjustment running into thousands of rupees or more than 60 to 80 percent of respective bills is injustice with masses. The protesters said that this is equivalent to a jaga tax.

They asked the government to immediately rectify the electricity bills. They said that they had been left with no option but to burn the bill. Tired of the high bills, they also burned tires and blocked road for every kind of traffic. The citizens ended the protest after the intervention of the police.