SHANGLA: A large number of residents led by Bisham tehsil council chairman Sadeedur Rehman on Saturday barged into the area’s grid station and got restored power supply on two feeders, which were switched off for load management.

The protesters, who also included political activists, were protesting against het Peshawar Electric Supply Company for issuing a new loadshedding schedule, increasing the duration of outages to 19 hours. The protesters restored power supply on Maira and Bisham feeders.

People from Shang, Bisham, Batkot, Maira and Dandai areas reached the 132KV Bisham Shang grid station.

Tehsil chairman Sadeedur Rehman, JUI-F leader Mohammad Amad Khan, former candidate for PK-28 Capt retired Abbas Khan, Fawad Khan, Nowsherwan, Nawaz Khan and others led the protesters into the grid station.

Residents of Kohistan, Kohat also take to streets against outages

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Rehman said people had lost their fertile lands, irrigation channels, mini power stations and watermills to the hydroelectric units built on the rivers in the region, but even then they were subjected to excessive blackouts.

“How Punjab can enjoy the uninterrupted power supply when the power producing areas are not provided with smooth electricity. We won’t tolerate this injustice and reject the fresh schedule of power outages issued by Pesco for Bisham tehsil,” he said.

Mr Rehman said people had already warned the Pesco officials against issuing the new schedule, but the utility went ahead with it, and now it would be responsible if any untoward incident happened.

JUI-F leader Amad Khan threatened that people would not tolerate the harsh loadsheddng schedule. The speakers also threatened to forcibly halt the installation of power pylons in the district.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Zada, Bisham traders’ union president, announced a shutter down strike on July 30 against excessive electric loadshedding.

He said despite 100 per cent recovery in the Bisham city, Pesco had started loadshedding of over 17 hours and 19 hours in Maira area.

The trade union president said Pesco also sent inflated bills without carrying out the meter reading. He said consumers often got faulty transformers repaired on self-help basis.

Meanwhile, residents of Kamila in Upper Kohistan staged a sit-in on the Karakoram Highway to protest prolonged power outages in the town and its suburbs.

“We have been experiencing 20 hours of power outages, and if this current spate of prolonged loadshedding continues, we will block the KKH for an indefinite period,” Sirajudden Shamat, a local, told protesters.

Holding placards the protesters also marched on the artery, blocking it to traffic for over two hours. They also raised slogans against Peshawar Electric Supply Company and its high-ups, demanding an end to outages.

Commuters travelling on KKH remained stranded under scorching sun.

“High-ups of Pesco and government departments are enjoying their lives in air-conditioned offices and houses, and this is why they don’t bother to address issues confronted by ordinary people,” Mr Shamat said.

The artery was cleared to traffic after police officials approached the protesters and assured them to convey their demands to Pesco high-ups.

In Kohat, hundreds of people, including women and children, blocked the busy Hangu Highway for four hours against the ‘unjustified and inhuman’ loadshedding. They claimed that 18 hours of loadshedding had caused water shortage in homes and mosques.

The protesters blocked the road to traffic in Muhammadzai and Nasratkhel areas, causing miseries to passengers.

Cantonment police station SHO Asif Hayat told Dawn that they rushed to the two spots after receiving information about the road blockades.

The protesters demanded firm promises from Pesco officials to reduce the duration of loadshedding from 18 hours to 12 hours. They lamented that the power utility backed out of its undertakings in the past as soon as they ended protests, and again resorted to excessive loadshedding.

SHO Hayat said they called the Pesco and district administration officials to hold talks with the protesters.

Later, Pesco officials and additional assistant commissioner Nisar Ahmed Khan arrived at the scene, and assured that the loadshedding duration would be reduced to 12 hours.

Afterwards, the protesters ended the road blockade.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2024