KOHAT, Aug 27 Three protesters were injured when police opened fire on a procession marching towards the Wapda grid after burning its offices and two vehicles in the Hangu district on Thursday.

Hundreds of armed protesters came out of their houses and went on rampage while protesting against loadshedding.

The protesters passed through the main bazaar while firing on shops and after reaching the offices of Wapda torched the three-storey building and servant quarters. The riots continued for several hours and two vehicles of Wapda, including that of the executive engineer, were also torched.The Wapda staff stopped power supply to Hangu after the incident, demanding action against the protesters for damaging equipment and offices worth millions of rupees.

The Hangu-Parachinar highway was also blocked by the protesters for more than three hours. Meanwhile, the Tehsil Municipal Administration suspended water supply to the Lachi town after its staff was manhandled by an influential man of the area.

The tehsil municipal officer sent a report to the SHO concerned to lodge an FIR against the man, but so far no case has been registered against him.

Sweepers also announced boycott of duties from Friday in support of the other employees.

The Kohat region is experiencing excessive loadshedding, despite the announcement by the federal minister for water and power that there will be no outages during Iftar and Sehr timings.

The situation in the region had worsened after the Wapda technical team failed to repair the three high-tension pylons which had fallen due to heavy rains and strong winds in the Shakardarra area. Normal power supply to Kohat from the Daud Khel grid station, which was suspended on Aug 19, could not be restored after eight days. Wapda had given a new date of Sept 1 for completion of the repair work and starting electricity supply to the whole Kohat region, including Hangu, Darra Adam Khel, Orakzai Agency, Thall etc.

On the third day of the incident, Pesco issued a statement that normal power supply to Kohat from the Daud Khel grid station would be restored soon.

As a result of the delay in installation of pylons and completing the repairs, power is being supplied to the region from Bannu on temporary basis, but the voltage is low and there is also excessive loadshedding.

Meanwhile, Pesco has started replacing old meters with new digital ones, which run six times faster, according to a senior Wapda official.

Pesco is also installing meters at the poles after removing them from walls outside houses to stop power theft. However, it was learnt, this move had failed to deliver as the meters were still allegedly being reversed or slowed by the Pesco staff after taking money from consumers.

According to investigation carried out by Dawn, the Wapda employees paid between Rs2 and Rs50 per month as their bills by taking extra advantage of the concession provided to them. A payment receipt showed a lineman was sent a bill for Rs2 only, although he had two air-conditioners in his house and his power consumption was much more than the free units allowed to low-ranking staff of Wapda.