July 21, 2008	Monday	Rajab 17, 1429

MIRPURKHAS, July 20: Hundreds of people staged a demonstrated and blocked main roads of the city to protest against unannounced loadshedding.

The residents of Pak colony, Khad Plot, Gharibabad, Nawab colony and Hameedpura closed the Nawabshah and Sindhri railway crossings and burnt tyres on main roads. They also raised slogans against Hesco.

The protesters marched through main roads demanding of the chairman Wapda to take serious notice of unscheduled load shedding in Mirpurkhas division and punish responsible officials.

Talking to journalists, Mohammad Akbar, Mohammad Arif and other protesters alleged that Hesco officials were carrying out loadshedding in the division more than the scheduled duration and causing hardships to consumers. They alleged that officials were covering their line losses through these methods.

Our Sukkur correspondent adds: People of Rohri staged a protest demonstration outside the local press club to protest against hours-long loadshedding in the town almost daily.

The protesters were raising slogans against the SDO of Hesco, Rohri. They told journalists that despite long duration of loadshedding, they were being issued heavy electricity bills, which was unjust and wrong. They claimed that they were also being issued detection bills ‘to cover line losses.’

They alleged that the SDO of Hesco, Rohri and the line staff were corrupt and allowing illegal connections, which as a result, were overloading the transformers.

They said it was affecting power supply. They said that their electronic appliances were damage due to the power fluctuations and demanded of the higher Hesco authorities to take notice of it and immediately stop unannounced loadshedding and issuance of inflated bills.