MINGORA: Residents of Nawa Kallay and Shahdara, suburban areas of Mingora, on Wednesday threatened to block the main road if gas loadshedding in the area was not stopped.

Led by tehsil councillor Shahid Ali, they staged a protest in Mingora and said that the Sui gas loadshedding in the city and its suburban areas had increased during the winter season, causing problems for the domestic consumers.

“After every protest the SNGPL officials assure us of resolving the issue but then the duration of loadshedding is increased and now we don’t have gas supply during cooking time,” said Mr Ali.

Other people in the protest said that gas outages in Mingora town had become a routine in winter. “We don’t have enough gas to use it for cooking,” said Amir Ali, a resident of Watkey.

The residents said that gas supply was suspended early in the morning and they had to use LPG for preparing breakfast. They said that in the evening when they needed gas for cooking and heating the supply was suspended completely.

They warned to block the main Fizagat-Shahdara road and observe a sit-in protest at Nishat Chowk against SNGPL and the federal government if gas supply was not made normal.

OFFICER-BEARERS: Syed Shahabuddin of Sama TV and Shaukat Ali of PTV were elected chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of Swat Press Club in the annual elections here on Wednesday.

According to the election results, Saeedur Rehman of Khyber News was elected general secretary, Anwer Anjum joint secretary and Iftikhar Ali finance secretary.

Similarly, Shireen Zada of Express TV was elected president of the Swat Union of Journalists, Fazal Khaliq of daily Dawn vice-president and Niaz Ahmad Khan of Mashriq TV general secretary. Other office-bearers include Shah Asad Ali joint secretary and Mohammad Khaliq finance secretary.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2017