TAXILA, May 10: With the rise in mercury level, the duration of loadshedding too has gone up in Taxila, Wah Cantonment and Chakwal and with it the temperature of the masses as well.

The residents of Taxila, Wah Cantonment on Thursday staged three different protest rallies, blocked vehicular traffic and chanted anti-government slogans.

Prolonged and unannounced loadshedding has not only crippled civic and commercial activities but it hit the students the most.

In fact, the students, appearing in board and university examinations, fear for their future as massive loadshedding during the daytime as well as night has badly disturbed their studies.

In Wah Cant, people from different walks of life including traders and transporters blocked Rawalpindi-Peshawar GT road near Saadat Colony leaving the traffic stranded for hours causing inconvenience to the commuters especially those who were travelling in public transport.

While in Taxila, the protesters, carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the government and Wapda the lawyers community marched on Faisal Shaheed road and later staged a sit-in at Taxila chowk. They also chanted ant-government slogans.

The protesters were of the view that as the government had failed to address the problems of people it should resign.

Besides general public, legal community too joined the protests in their own way. They boycotted the court proceedings, making the litigants suffer. The lawyers warned that if unscheduled loadshedding was not ended within seven days, they would launch a massive protest campaign against the Wapda.

In Taxila, a protest demonstration took ugly turn when relatives of a local PML (N) leader allegedly pelted the protesters with stones and resorted to firing in the air in reaction to their anti-government slogans. As a result, four protesters were injured. Traffic remained suspended on the inter-city routes for hours.

In Chakwal, the residents of Kallar Kahar and adjacent villages blocked Motorway and Chakwal-Sargodha Road on Thursday to protest 15 to 17 hours loadshedding.

Hundreds of enraged people emerged at the motorway near Kallar Kahar Interchange on Thursday morning. They blocked the M2 and Chakwal-Sargodha Road for more than three hours and commuters faced a worst day.

The protesters shouted slogans against the government and the opposition parties.

District Police Officer Kashif Mushtaq Kanju, Assistant Commissioner Kallar Kahar Shakil Bhatti, and Executive Engineer of Wapda Mumtaz Janjua along with the heavy contingents of police rushed to the scene.

They negotiated with the protesters and assured them that loadshedding would be reduced o reasonable proportions. The Wapda Xen assured the protesters that unscheduled power outages would not be done. At this, the protesters dispersed and opened the roads.