TIMERGARA: The residents of Balambat staged a demonstration outside the offices of district nazim and deputy commissioner here on Wednesday to protest prolonged power outages and low voltage in their area.

Addressing the protesters, Malakabad neighbourhood council nazim Malik Nawab Alam and naib nazim Malik Ali Bakht criticised Peshawar Electric Supply Company for carrying out excessive power outages in the area.

They also criticised deputy commissioner and district nazim for their failure to check unscheduled power outages in the district headquarters. They said that more than 18 hours power loadshedding was observed in the area.

“Since Ramazan, low voltage and fluctuations had inflicted heavy losses on the residents of Balambat. Electronic appliances worth millions of rupees have been damaged and the residents are faced with endless miseries,” said the speakers.

Protesters threaten to besiege Pesco local office

They demanded of Pesco chief and its executive engineer in the district to take notice of the situation. They threatened to besiege Pesco office in Balambat if the issues were not resolved.

However, officials said that the old Timergara feeder meant for Balambat area got tripped owing to load. They added that a separate feeder for Balambat was under construction but the project could not be completed owing to unavailability of conductor (wire).

JIRGA: A jirga of political leaders and elders from Jandol area in Lower Dir and Bajaur Agency on Wednesday resolved an old blood feud in Mian Kallay.

The jirga members said Niaz Mohammad had shot dead brother of Ayaz 11 years ago. They said that the killer was sentenced to death by court.

A jirga led by ANP leader Haji Bahadar Khan succeeded to resolve the feud. A function in this regard was held in Mian Kallay that was attended by more than 2,000 local people and Bajaur elders.

The family of the killed man pardoned the rival party. The members of both the families embraced each other and promised to live like brothers in future.

WATER: The residents of Rahimabad village in Samar Bagh tehsil on Wednesday complained that they were facing shortage of drinking water.

The elders of area including Dr Sarbiland, Imran Khan, Dost Rehman and others told journalists that they were facing acute shortage of drinking water because of faulty pipeline and long distance from the water source.

They said the government had dug a tubewell but its water could not reach the village due to long distance and faulty pipeline. They demanded of the authorities to resolve the issue.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2017