BATKHELA: Hundreds of people took to the streets in protest against hours-long loadshedding and low voltage of electricity and blocked the main road for four hours for every kind of traffic. The protesters chanted slogans against government representatives including district administration and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) officials.
The protesters comprised of Khar, Dheri Jolgram, Matkani, Alladhand Dheri, Totakan, Mekhband and Peerkhel areas complained of 20 hours daily power outages in their respective areas. The enraged protesters were led by Awami National Party local leader, Sher Shah, district councilor Maulana Arshad Noorani and village councilors including Ameer Akbar, Fazal Nabi, Maulana Javed and Khalid Hussain.
Extending a five day deadline to the authorities concerned, the protesters demanded that uninterrupted power supply be provided to the affected areas. They condemned the Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf led provincial government for deceiving the people in the name of change. Similarly, in Shangla district, councilors of seven union councils threatened to stop cooperating with members of the National Assembly in their respective constituencies if the elected representatives failed to take up the issue of establishing 132KV grid station in Bisham. They lashed out at Ameer Muqam, the adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, for turning a deaf ear to the woes of local residents and were furious that work on the grid station has been incomplete for the last three years.
The enraged local government representatives also warned WAPDA authorities of dire consequences if unannounced power outages were not stopped in the district. Separately, a peaceful protest against loadhsedding turned violent when unidentified miscreants opened fire and pelted stones at the police at University Road in Kohat. In retaliation, the police also fired aerial shots to disperse the protesters. Two people sustained wounds as the protesters ran amok. Later, the police arrested twenty protesters including two women and shifted them to Saddar Police Station.
Similar protests in Timergara: Hundreds of people on Monday staged a protest demonstration against the prolonged power outages in Khall. Led by Awami National Party local leader and district councilor Malik Mehmood Zeb Khan, the protesters staged a sit-in at Khall bazaar. The protesters were chanting slogans against WAPDA.
Speaking on the occasion, Malik Mehmood Zeb Khan, Malik Qadar Jan, Malilk Fazal Rehman, Malik Said Zaman and Nasir Shah said that unscheduled and prolonged power outages had made life miserable for people. They warned to uproot the electricity pylons in Khall if Wapda failed to stop hours-long loadshedding in the area.
Road mishap: A motorcyclist was killed in a road accident near Unkar check post at Khall here on Sunday night, police said. They said Junaid Ahmad, a resident of Sheikhano, a suburban village of Timergara in Lower Dir, was heading towards Akhgram in Upper Dir when a speeding passenger bus hit his bike, killing him on the spot. The driver of the bus escaped after the accident.
.jpg)
