SWABI, Jan 6: Low gas pressure and prolonged power loadshedding have affected badly routine of life in Swabi, according to residents of the district.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, they said that the dawn of New Year was bloody for them as seven workers of a non-government organisation were killed in the district. “But the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) have multiplied miseries of people through low gas pressure and power loadshedding,” they added.Mohammad Shoaib, a resident of Zaida, said that SNGPL and Pesco should not force people to hold protest demonstrations and block roads. “The problem in our country is that problems of people are not resolved peacefully,” he said.

The residents of the district said that the problem of low gas pressure emerged with the advent of winter. The pressure of gas remained low from 6am to 10pm that irked domestic consumers, they added.

“We have been facing the low gas pressure problem for the last several days. The pressure is too low and it takes hours even to make tea,” said Abdul Rahim of Maneri Bala village.

The people said that 16 to 18 hours power loadshedding had created numerous problems for them. The transporters and commuters were hit hard by power loadshedding, they said.

The owners of CNG filling stations didn’t run generators to provide fuel to motorists when power was suspended, transporters told this correspondent.

The electricity remained suspended for 16 to 18 hours, they added.

However, the filling station owners said they couldn’t run generators as it cost them heavily. They said that instead of earning they suffered losses if they used generators.

“How can we run generators when we suffer losses? The heavy generators, used at filling stations, consume a lot of petroleum.

We are no longer in a position to bear more losses. People have to wait for resumption of power supply to fill their vehicles,” said an owner of a filling station.

The motorists said that they were told by operators of CNG filling stations to pay an additional Rs50 to Rs70 per kilogram if they wanted to fill their vehicles during hours of power loadshedding as they would have to rum generators for the purpose.

They said that they were told to wait for resumption of power supply if they didn’t want to pay extra money. The wait resulted in long queues of vehicles at filling stations, they added.

“Filling CNG in a vehicle has become an uphill task as motorists have to wait for more than three hours for it,” said Mohammad Ali, a resident of Maneri Bala.