SWABI, June 12: People blocked the Swabi-Mardan road on Tuesday in protest against unannounced and prolonged loadshedding in their areas.

The protesters erected blockades at Kalu Khan, Mansabdar, Adina, Ismalia, Kernel Sher Kili and Shewa Adda and chanted slogans against the government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company. The traffic remained suspended for about one-and-a-half hours on the Swabi-Mardan road. The Awami National Party had given a call for the protest.

MPA Ameer Rehman said that people of the district had sacrificed their homes and farmland for the construction of Tarbela Dam and Ghazi Barotha project, yet they had been made to suffer excessive loadshedding as compared with other parts of the country.

Mukhtiar Khan, an MPA from the ANP, said that power supply would remain suspended for hours but the officials concerned never justified it.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after the authorities assured them that from now on only two-hour loadshedding would be carried out in 24 hours.