SWABI: People belonging to different walks of life blocked Swabi-Jehangira road here to protest against excessive power loadshedding, saying that the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) has restored to prolonged outages to spoil Eid celebrations of people of the area.

The protesters gathered at Zakariya bus stop and marched to Swabi-Jehangira road while chanting slogans against the Pesco and its officials. They said that the Pesco staff was intentionally resorting to loadshedding for long hours in the rural areas while city areas had been exempted.

The protesters kept the road blocked for about two hours and later the local Pesco and police officials assured them that they would resolve their problems. After the assurance the protesters dispersed peacefully.

KILLED FOR ‘HONOR’: A young boy and girl, who allegedly ran away from their homes a few days and got married without permission of their parents, were shot dead by their relatives on Wednesday, police said.

The victims belonged to Yaqubi village in Chota Lahor tehsil. Officials said that the two had left their houses just before Eid to get married, but the two families chased and killed them both.

The police, however, said that it was not yet clear who were involved in the killings.

HAILSTORM: Torrential rain accompanied with hailstorm lashed the district twice during the last two days. It was the fourth time during the last one month that hailstorm hit various areas of the district, causing damage to the sugarcane and maize crops.

The hailstones damaged crops in Yar Hussain, Yaqubi, Maini, Kotha, Adina, Ismalia, Doubian, Salim Khan, Karnal Sher Kallay, Kalu Khan, Shahmansoor and various other localities.

Besides, strong winds uprooted several trees with some of them falling on power transmission lines, which resulted in suspension of electricity for hours. 

An official said that the Right Bank Colony and River View Colony in Tarbela Dam area remained without power for hours because huge trees had fallen on the transmission lines in both the residential areas.

Published in Dawn, October 9th , 2014