SWABI: People in Swabi, Mingora and Mansehra staged demonstrations on Tuesday to protest against the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for resorting to unscheduled loadshedding and not taking timely action to repair faulty transformers.

In Swabi, people staged protests against prolonged loadshedding and inflated electricity bills. Announcements were made on loudspeakers at Yar Hussain, asking the people to take part in the protest against what they called “ruthless loadshedding” during the holy month of Ramazan.

The protesters, led by Bakht Zamin and Tanveer Shahzad, blocked Chota Lahor-Yar Hussain road for traffic. They gathered at Yar Hussain bazaar and marched through the markets while demanding end to unscheduled outages and resolution of low voltage problem in the area.

Mr Zamin said that the entire area of Yar Hussain should be linked with Dobian feeder. “In summer, we usually remain without power supply and the Pesco is responsible for the whole mess,” he said.

Pesco not taking action to repair transformers and rectify faults, say protesters

Other speakers said that they had been receiving inflated bills despite record loadshedding by Pesco. They said that they did not know who would resolve their problems.

Mr Shahzad said that Pesco should take remedial measures to normalise the power supply situation.

The residents of Shagai also held a protest demonstration against excessive outages and blocked the Swabi-Mardan road.

The people ended their protest after officials of the Pesco and local administration assured them that the problem of unscheduled loadshedding would be resolved.

In Mingora, prolonged outages sparked protests while a high-level meeting held at the office of commissioner Malakand division failed to take any decision on resolving the problem of low voltage and faulty transformers in Swat district.

A meeting of elected representatives of the district was held at the office of commissioner at Saidu Sharif.

The meeting was attended by provincial minister Mahmood Khan, MNAs Saleemur Rahman, Ayesha Syed and Mussarat Amir Zeb, and MPAs Fazal Hakeem Khan, Jafar Shah, Aziz Ullah and Nadia Sher.

The meeting discussed the issue of faulty transformers and low voltage and asked the Pesco representatives to take urgent steps for resolution of the people’s problems.

The Wapda representatives instead of giving any assurance to the elected members advised them to raise a demand for more transformers with the Pesco chief executive.

A large number of people from Abuha, Barikot tehsil, and Gulkada, Babozai tehsil, also held protests against Pesco outside the commissioner’s office.

In Mansehra, scores of people blocked the Karakoram Highway to protest against Pesco for its inefficiency to repair a transformer.

The protesters from Dub-2 area said that their area was without electricity from the last few days, but the Pesco officials failed to repair faulty transformer of the locality.

The angry protesters burnt tyres on KKH and blocked it for over two hours. They raised slogans against the government for increasing problems for the people.

They said that contrary to its claims to reduce loadshedding the government had increased its duration in Ramazan.

The road was reopened after local police assured the people that the transformer would be changed and power restored.

In Landi Kotal, the residents criticised the Tribal Electric Supply Company for subjecting them to prolonged outages in Ramazan.

They said that despite the federal government’s announcement that no loadshedding would be carried out during Iftar and Sehr time in the country, power supply was suspended to them for almost 18 hours.

Residents of Landi Kotal and Jamrud said that the Tesco had been providing uninterrupted power supply to ice factories in Shah Kas, Torkham and Loe Shalman, but they continued to ignore domestic consumers.

They alleged that owners of ice factories had been paying bribes to the Tesco officials for uninterrupted power supply.

The affected residents have appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to take notice of the situation.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2014