KHAIRPUR: A complete shutter-down was observed in Piryaloi, the historical town and main business centre of Kingri taluka, on Thursday in protest against excessive power loadshedding.

Protesters in a large number held a demonstration on the Sukkur-Pir Jo Goth Road causing disruption in the flow of vehicular traffic between several towns for more than an hour.

Residents of the town, including traders, taking part in the demonstration told the media that 16 hours of loadshedding a day had been imposed on the town for the recovery of electricity dues from a handful of defaulters.

“We pay our bills regularly but are not supplied electricity for more than eight hours a day,” they said, adding that the outages had devastated the life while businessmen, traders, shopkeepers and owners of commercial concerns were suffering heavy losses. Students were also suffering because of the absence of electricity at their institutions and houses, they said.

They held the federal ministry of water and power responsible for the worst-ever situation prevailing in the country these days due to its unpopular policy on power generation and distribution.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2014