LAKKI MARWAT - The residents of Lakki Marwat held a demonstration at Michenkhel Adda on Sunday to protest against excessive power outages.
Activists of political parties and people from different walks of life gathered at Michenkhel Adda after Alkhidmat foundation district chapter secretary general Liaqat Ali Sayyam made announcements through megaphone calling upon people to participate in protest demonstration against load shedding.
The protesters blocked Lakki-Mianwali road for some time and raised full-throated slogans against government and Wapda. Speakers said that continuous and unscheduled load shedding had made the lives of residents miserable in the holy month of Ramazan.
“The government could not fulfill its promise of not carrying out load shedding during sehr, iftar and taraveeh timings”, they told. They alleged that local Pesco officials were involved in shutting/halting power supply to urban and rural localities by dropping links on transmission lines.
They made it clear that residents of the area could not bear unfair load shedding anymore and they would be compelled to launch a protest campaign if power outages were not stopped immediately.
Hafiz Asif Salim advocate of JUI-F, Sabz Ali Naveed of Jamat-e-Islami, Humayun Marwat of ANP, Asif Iqbal advocate of district bar association and a local journalist Ghulam Akbar spoke on the occasion.
Meanwhile, residents and business community of Serai Gambila town took out a rally on Sunday in favour of district police officer who got restored power supply to the town the other day.
Participants walked through the main bazaar and gathered at Gambila adda. Speakers said on the occasion that DPO Umar Riaz took notice of peaceful protest demonstration of area people against delay in repairing faulty transformer.
They said that on the intervention of DPO the Pesco officials installed an alternate transformer and promised to repair the faulty one within next two days.
They told that the elders and traders’ leaders would extend all out support to the officials of police and Pesco in removing illegal connections and eliminating the menace of kunda culture.
The elders of Abakhel and Dallokhel warned on Sunday that the villagers would have no option other than to stop paying electricity bills if uninterrupted power supply to the villages was not ensured.
An elder Haji Zarwali Khan who attended the meeting told that the participants expressed grave concern over the prolong power breakdowns being carried out by local Pesco officials in violation of the officially announced load shedding schedule. He told that residents of both villages were subjected to pay inflated bills every month but despite that they lacked electricity facility due to load shedding.
“In 24 hours a day the villagers hardly get the facility for three to four hours”, he maintained, saying that in such circumstances no one will come to pay electricity bills. The meeting called upon the government to take notice of the matter and rid the residents of both villages from unscheduled load shedding.