MINGORA: The residents of different areas here on Monday took to streets and blocked Mingora-Kalam Road for four hours to protest prolonged power outages.

The angry protesters chanted slogans against Pesco and federal government and set tyres on fire to block the road to traffic. They said that despite several protests, Pesco officials and federal government did not bother to address their issues.

The protesters said that prolonged power outages caused acute shortage of drinking water in their areas. They said that tehsil administration was responsible for supplying water to their areas but the officials said that they could not run water pumps without electricity.

The protesters said that power outages affected their routine life. “We cannot sleep well due to hot weather in the night without electricity. We spend the day in fetching water,” said Taj Mohamamd Khan, a village councillor.

Threaten to turn violent if duration of outages not decreased

He said that even women and children fetched water from far flung areas. He said that people living in the mountains had to come down to the Swat River and other streams to fetch water.

“Our house is on the top of the hill in Malookabad where one can reach in about two hours. I have to make four or five turns to carry water from the river to our house daily. It makes me so tired that I cannot go to school in the morning,” said Wajid Ali, a seventh grader.

The protesters said that district administration and provincial government should arrange petrol or diesel generators to power the water pumping machines in Mingora and other areas.

Mingora tehsil nazim Ikram Khan, when contacted, said that the tehsil municipal administration had only two generators but those could not run the water pumping machines.

“If electricity loadshedding is scheduled and decreased then we will be able to run the water pumps and supply water to the houses,” he said.

The protesters warned of a violent protest if the duration of loadshedding was not decreased and scheduled. They said that responsibility of any mishap would rest with Pesco and federal government.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2017