HYDERABAD: The residents of Peon Colony Hyderabad staged a sit-in on Wednesday outside Shahbaz Building for a couple of hours in protest against power outage since a pole-mounted transformer (PMT) was burnt out 20 days ago.

In Sukkur and Badin, protests were also held in connection with power-related issues.

In Hyderabad, the protesters blocked the main road and did not allow officials to enter Shahbaz Building that houses many public offices.

They shouted slogans against the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco).

They claimed that they had been living without electricity for 20 days. The protest was called off when Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Moatasim Abbasi assured the protesters of restoration of power supply.

Meanwhile, Hesco spokesperson Sadiq Kubar said the residents of Peon Colony had been using Kundas (hooks) to steal electricity and they owed Rs600,000 to Hesco in terms of power dues. However, the power was restored after the sit-in.

SUKKUR: Inhabitants of Mirani Muhalla, Qureshi road and Nomaish ground area in old Sukkur took to the streets on Wednesday in protest against non-replacement of burnt out transformers of their area even after a lapse of one month.

The protest against Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) was led by Muhammad Yakoob Mirani, Saeed Abro, Rab Nawaz and others.

They told reporters that they were facing many problems due to non-replacement of the transformers in the sweltering heat of summer.

They demanded of the authorities concerned to take notice of the problems being faced by the citizens of old Sukkur in Ramazan and make arrangements for replacing the transformers immediately.

BADIN: Consumers in almost all of the towns and villages of Badin and Tharparkar districts on Wednesday suffered miserably due to unscheduled and hours-long power outages.

People in Badin, Talhar, Matli, Tando Bago, Golarchi, Pangrio, Kadhan and other towns of Badin district complained that they had suffered power outages and low voltage on the second day of Ramazan too.

People in Mithi, Diplo, Nagarprakar, Islamkot, Chhachhro, Dahli, Chelhar, Kaloi and towns of Thar also complained of unscheduled load shedding. Even during prayers, Sehri and Iftari, they were facing the outages due to an indifferent attitude of the Hesco officials.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2016