MANSEHRA: Residents have complained about “prolonged and unscheduled” power outages here and threatened street protests on the issue.

“If the Peshawar Electric Supply Company doesn’t address the power issue immediately, we’ll take to the streets and observe a complete shutter-down strike,” chairman of the central traders body Fayyaz Solaria told reporters here on Tuesday.

He said Pesco had been suspending electric supply to domestic and commercial consumers in the city and its suburbs every other day on the pretext of trimming tree branches and maintaining power lines along the Karakoram Highway and Abbottabad Road.

“We won’t tolerate unjustified power cuts,” he said.

Mr Solaria said Pesco suspended electric supply throughout the day on August 6, affecting commercial activity, while dozens of people, mostly the elderly, fell unconscious. “We took up the issue with Pesco high-ups, who promised corrective measures, which are still awaited,” he said.

Resident Mohammad Ayub said the people settled around the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital remained without electricity the entire day on August 6, so they couldn’t draw water from wells and hand pumps. He said Pesco had announced loadshedding for four hours daily but were subjecting the area to daylong power blackouts.

Meanwhile, traders in Shinkiari area and its suburbs here on Tuesday demanded of the Baffa-Pakhal tehsil administration to remove encroachments from the Karakoram Highway.

“Encroachments on the KKH frequently hamper traffic but the TMA, despite our repeated requests, have yet to remove them,” president of the Sarafa Traders Association Mazhar Bashir told reporters.

He complained about frequent traffic jams on the KKH and blamed them on encroachments.

“The businessmen repeatedly met the tehsil municipal administrator and requested him to ensure encroachment removal, but to no avail,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2024