SHEIKHUPURA, March 25: Power outages’ duration has risen up to 20 hours in urban and rural areas of Nankana and Sheikhupura districts.

Scores of people, a majority of them labourers, set fire to old tyres on GT Road near Imamia Colony and Kala Shah Kaku and threw traffic out of gear for more than two hours.

Punjab Labourers Federation Union leader Rana Usman, addressing the protesters, said all the factories in both the districts had been closed and more than 130,000 workers had been rendered jobless. “They and their families are facing starvation now.”

Residents of Nankana, Shahkot, Sangla Hill, Mor Khunda, Mandi Faizabad, Bucheki and other towns took out protest rallies against the outages.

GUJRANWALA: Industrial labourers and citizens continued their protest against the prolonged power loadshedding here on Sunday.

Hundreds of laborers belonging to the plastic industry blocked the traffic on Jinnah Road, burning old tyres and chanting slogans against the government and Wapda. A large number of the area people also joined labourers in protest.

Speaking on the occasion, labor union leader Muhammad Imran said hundreds of industrial units were closed down and thousands of workers were rendered jobless due to 16-20 hours daily outages.

He said the situation had worsened to an extent that some workers along with their families started committing suicide.

He held the present government responsible for the energy crisis and demanded immediate steps to overcome the current situation.

Meanwhile, Dhullay police registered a case against more than 350 laborers for blocking a road on Saturday in protest against power loadshedding.

A police officer said that four of the nine nominated people were in police custody.