MULTAN, April 15: On the second day of protests against loadshedding, powerloom workers facing unemployment blocked railway tracks on Tuesday.

Unlike Monday the protesters remained peaceful.

Dozens of powerloom workers gathered at the Mumtazabad railway crossing and staged a sit-in on tracks in protest against long and unscheduled power outages.

Though no train was delayed as the protesting workers lifted the siege after some time, they threatened to repeat their action on Wednesday if the power supply was not restored to powerloom units.

The Qaumi Tajir Etihad held a rally to demonstrate solidarity with the Powerloom Association and condemned registration of FIRs against office-bearers of the association.

It said that cases had been registered against 1,500 people under the Anti-Terrorism Act, but the people who had protested against loadshedding were not terrorists.

The Wapda Hydro-Electric Central Labour Union and the Wapda Employees Paigham Union also took out a procession to condemn mob attacks on offices of the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco).

Holding black flags and banners, the participants blocked the LMQ Road and raised slogans against the Powerloom Association and police.

They held City District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar responsible for the riots.

They warned that if police did not arrest Khaliq Qandeel and other people involved in the attacks on Mepco offices within 10 hours, they would disconnect power supply to Multan in the first phase and later to south Punjab.

They called for reinstatement of Mepco Chief Executive Tariq Rasool. Mepco secretary Shehbaz Ahmed Khan said the company was not a power generating institution.

He said electricity was being distributed 46 per cent for domestic use, six per cent for commercial, 18 per cent for industrial units, 17 per cent for agriculture and 13 per cent for street lights.

He said that Mepco was providing electricity to powerloom units through 12 feeders of three divisions and only 15 minutes of loadshedding was being carried out.

He said that the Central Power Control Centre in Islamabad and Regional Power Control Centre were providing 11,095 megawatt electricity for south Punjab and Mepco was facing a daily shortage of 634 MW.

He said that Multan was facing a shortage of 121 MW while in peak hours from 6pm to 11pm Mepco was facing a shortage of 245 MW for the city.

Powerloom Association general secretary Khaliq Qandeel said they had decided not to launch any protest in future.

He said that the association had no concern with Tuesday’s protests at Mumtazabd railway crossing.

Multan RPO Mirza Mohammad Ali held a meeting with Mepco officials, local politicians, representatives of Powerloom Associations and traders to discuss the law and order situation.

He said that police would investigate arrested people and those found guiltless would be released.