RAWALPINDI - People in different areas of the city held massive protest demonstrations and took out rallies against the unscheduled loadsheeding on Tuesday.
The very charged protestors, carrying placards and banners, bellowed slogans against the PPP-led government, torched tyres and other stuff and threw traffic out of gear at various localities to give vent to their anger.
The areas where protest demos and rallies were taken out included Westridge, Airport Road and Chakri Road.
In Westridge, tens of hundreds of employees and owners of marble factories took out a protest rally against the excessive power outages, which they said have made their lives a hell. The rally was taken out on the call of Marble Factories Association Action Committee.
In a very rare style, the enraged protestors wrote WAPDA on a donkey and then beat it with shoes besides holding a coffin on shoulders mentioning also WAPDA over it. Later, the coffin was also put to fire.
Led by MFAAC Chairman Shahid Mehmood, the rally started from Marble Factory Road and ended at WAPDA office where they staged a protest demo with also Imran, Malik Arshad, Wahab Khan and Abdul Jabbar joining in.
They chanted slogans against PPP led government, Ministry of Water and Power.
Addressing the protestors, the office bearers said that WAPDA is conducting about 20 hours long loadsheeding which had ruined their businesses. They said that their lives have been turned into hell owing to electricity crises. They said that those sitting in power corridors were bust in looting the national exchequer but not paying attention on the maladies being faced by industrial sector and general public.
Terming the protest as rehearsal, Chairman Shahid announced the schedule of prolong protest and rallies. As per schedule, the factory owners and workers would not pay electricity bills while more than 100,000 factory owners would not also pay taxes if the government failed in overwhelming the power crisis, said Shahid adding that in the next phase almost 12,00,000 marble factory employees would pour out to roads and streets and would join any political party to oust Gilani and Zardari and their cronies out from power.
However, the factory owners and workers would play their vital role in strengthening the economy if the government provided them electricity without any halt, he added.
A large number of residents of Airport Road, Shah Khalid Colony, Dhoke Kashmirian and Gulzar-e-Quaid staged a protest demonstration against power outage. Holing bamboo sticks, rods, wooden sticks, the very angry protestors blocked airport road for hours by setting tyres a blaze. The protestors included old aged men, women, young girls and children. They chanted full-throated slogans against the government.
Reportedly a gigantic protest demo was also held by the residents of Chakri Road, Quaid-e-Azam Colony, Ashraf Colony, Dhamial and Hayyal at Biscuit Factory Chowk against the gigantic power outage that had multiplies the miseries of the people.
To register their protest, the residents kept traffic block at Chakri Road for hours. They also burnt tyres at the main road and threw traffic out of gear for at least two hours
The people said their lives have been turned into hell due to severe electricity crisis.. They shouted slogans against the government, saying that the inflation and loadshedding were hitting them hard and their lives have become hell.
They complained that they were unable to sleep during night as WAPDA conducted loadsheeding. They said that their children could not go to school after spending sleepless nights owing to absence of electricity.