PESHAWAR, May 22: Residents of various localities in Peshawar on Wednesday blocked roads to protest prolonged loadshedding.

The protesters among them children, belonging to different areas, including Shaheen Colony, Umeedabad and Bara Gate, blocked Bara and Canal roads and shouted slogans against the government and Wapda for failure to ensure smooth supply of electricity. The protesters said that they were routinely experiencing loadshedding for 20 hours. They said despite repeated complaints Pesco officials paid no attention to resolve the issue.

“The Pesco is not only carrying out excessive loadshedding but also punishing us for those who do not pay monthly bills. We have time and again requested the concerned officials to link Shaheen Colony, Umeedabad and Baragate with Swati Gate (Gulberg) feeder but to no avail,” said a protester, Aman Khan.

He said these localities had been connected with Landi Arbab feeder where the Pesco had complaints of defaulters and thus the public utility was punishing them with extra loadshedding.

“We give last warning to the Pesco to link our localities with Gulberg feeder otherwise we will block the roads on regular basis,” the consumers warned.

Similarly, the residents of Faqirabad, Daudzai, Warsak Road also took out processions and block roads in protest against power suspensions. They said that loadshedding had caused clashes among the people over distribution of water and they could no longer tolerate the power suspensions.

Meanwhile, students of Agriculture University demanded installation of power generators in the students’ hostels to help end the excessive loadshedding. The students held a protest demonstration at the university campus and asked the vice chancellor to take immediate steps for installation of the generators as they were unable to continue their studies in hot weather. — Bureau Report