June 11, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1428

LAYYAH, June 7: Shopkeepers and the general public blocked the Layyah-Muzaffargarh Road for two hours to lodged their protest against the long hours of unscheduled loadshedding.

Enraged protesters screamed slogans against the Wapda authority and also burnt used tyres.

Reports said that the main transformer of Layyah grid station burnt last weak and the citizens were facing over 12-hour outage every day. Since then the Mepco authority has fallen down on the job to repair or install the new transformer.

Speaking on the occasion, MMA leader Chaudhry Anwar Ali Gujar said that frequent tripping had burnt electronic appliances.

He said the government was spending lavishly on fashion and music shows but doing nothing for enhancing country’s energy need.

Anjuman Tajran president Muhammad Aslam threatened to observe a complete strike if power supply was not restored within 24 hours.

When contacted, Wapda deputy manager Emmanuel Sardar said that the electricity supply would soon be restored after the removal of the fault from the newly installed transformer.

Protesters dispersed peacefully when Mepco SDO Ashraf Mahmood assured them that the power supply would be restored.

VEHARI: Residents of the Vehari district and adjoining areas on Sunday strongly protested against the unannounced loadshedding.

Reports said that four to eight hours of loadshedding was being done every day for the last one month in the hostile temperatures. It was also badly disrupting civic and business activities.

Vehari’s Mepco circle is observing long hours of loadshedding in clear violation of the Wapda chairman’s orders that the duration should not be more than half an hour. A group of people of Machiwal and Luddan areas said that they were facing shortage of water for drinking and their crops owing to the frequent suspension of power supply.

They said patients were facing hardships in rural health centres and basic health units as doctors did not attend to them during loadshedding hours.

Kissan Board Pakistan president Jawed Husain Shah said that long-hour of power outages were also affecting the farm sector.

Similar complaints were also received from Burewala, Sahooka, Jamlera, Thingi, Tibba Sultanpur and Jalla Jeem areas.

At least 12 people fainted in the district as mercury shot up to 48 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

Reports said that passengers, especially women and children, fell unconscious at general bus stands in Garah Morr, Gagoo, Thingi, Mailsi and Vehari. They were admitted to nearby clinics.

NAROWAL: Half of the Narowal town was without electricity for the last eight hours till the last report came in on Sunday evening.

Reports said that Wapda staff failed to trace the fault in the 11KVA transmission line near Lal Masjid. The fault developed when transmission line caught fire.

Even though the matter was immediately reported to the Gepco XEN and the SDO, they only found it enough to send some staff of the area complaint office. Till the filing of this report, the power supply could not be restored.

The XEN was not attending his mobile phone while SDO Waheed Ahmed also did not bother to visit the site or make some alternative arrangements.