PESHAWAR, Oct 21: The Pakistan Railways (PR) suffered another embarrassment here on Friday when electricity supply to its Peshawar Cantonment railway station and labour colony was disconnected due to non-payment of arrears, triggering a road blockade by railway workers.

Shaukat Afzal, director public relations, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), told Dawn that the PR's four supply lines were disconnected due to 'non-payment of about Rs9.7 million electricity charges for the last 13 months.'

He said that the PR authorities did not clear the dues though a responsible officer of the department was sent written reminders in this regard more than once.

The power company acted against the PR as part of its ongoing efforts to recover billions of rupees electricity arrears pending against public sector organisations and provincial government departments.

The disconnection of power supply to such organisations is one of several measures recently formulated by the federal cabinet to improve the financial health of Water and Power Development Authority as part of a strategy to overcome power outages and the ongoing energy crisis in the country.

The disconnection of PR's electricity, including that of the colony, elicited a strong reaction from its workers who blocked the busy Sher Shah Suri Road in front of the railways divisional office building here. They were protesting against the PR's Peshawar authorities after their houses in the railways labour colony, too, were left without electricity.

Their protest affected the vehicular traffic, causing troubles to a large number of motorists and commuters. The affected workers chanted slogans against their department's high-ups for not paying the electricity bills in time.

“They (PR) withhold the electricity charges of our houses from our salary every month,” Nizamuddin Abbasi, senior vice president of the Pakistan Railways Employees Union (Peshawar division) told Dawn , when contacted.

He said that hundreds of workers' families suffered, as water supply to the colony also remained suspended for the whole day since 11am, affecting many among those attending the Friday prayers.

The Pesco spokesman, however, said that the power supply to the labour colony was not cut off, adding that only those houses might have suffered suspension of electricity that were getting supply from any of the PR's four connections that had been cut off.

“We have only disconnected power supply to the railway station and the PR's guest houses,” said the spokesman.

Mr Abbasi said that 800 residential quarters, the railway station, loco shed and washing line and the PR Peshawar division building that houses the admin offices remained without electricity for the whole day.

Meanwhile, the protesting workers called on the senior PR officers, asking them to immediately clear the dues to help restore the power supply.

“We are told that the matter would be resolved by Saturday (today),” Mr Abbasi said.