KOHAT: Ignoring scorching heat in Ramazan, a large number of charged protesters of Ghurazai area of Gumbat union council blocked the Rawalpindi road for about 10 hours to demand gas supply from the local oilfield.

They said that the company should provide the facility before pumping out gas to Punjab. They said that the rights of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa people were being usurped be it electricity or gas and oil which would not be tolerated anymore.

The police had to arrest over a dozen elders to end the blockade which continued till 4:00pm.

Demand gas from local oilfield

The elders had taken out people early in the morning at around 6:00am and criticised the oil exploration MOL company for denying them the facility after four years of discovery. They slept on the road and also burnt tyres to show their resentment. Earlier, they had stopped work on the rig forcibly for a month.

They demanded that the MOL company should sign an agreement with them that they should be provided free of cost gas before connecting the main pipe to the Punjab line passing at a distance.

The nazims and councillors said that the gas should be free of cost for the nearby villages which fell within five kilometers radius of the wells. Moreover, they should be paid for their land where the reserves had been discovered.

MPA Amjid Afridi later held talks with the company officials. A police statement said that after successful talks the protesters agreed to open the road and the arrested elders were also released.

VENDORS PROTEST: Hundreds of wholesale traders, handcart owners and retailers held a rally in favour of issuance of daily pricelist from the Shinwari fruit and vegetable market in the city instead of the one at new bus stand.

They gathered at the market and closed down their shops on Saturday.

Their president Yousuf Khan said on the occasion that the Shinwari market was very close to the retailers and handcart owners therefore the daily pricelist should be issued there.

He pointed out that the vegetable market at new stand owned and operated by the tehsil municipal administration was miles away from the city and they could not go there just to collect the list.

He stated that majority of fruit sellers were associated with the Shinwari market because it saved their money in the shape of transportation charges.

Meanwhile, the business community criticised the SNGPL for low gas pressure in the industrial estate and the filling stations during the day.

In a statement on Saturday, president of filling stations, Sher Zaman Afridi, appealed to the federal government to direct the SNGPL to keep the gas pressure normal during Ramazan because the passengers had to undergo a great deal of trouble in traffic lines at the filling stations.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017