SWABI: Commuters faced hardships on Friday owing to blockade of busy Swabi-Mardan road for over two hours by power protesters who said that the Peshawar Electric Supply Company had been resorting to prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding in Gohati area which created numerous problems for them.

The power consumers belonging to various regions of Gohati gathered at the Gohati Bridge near postgraduate college, Swabi, and blocked the Swabi-Mardan road to traffic. People from different areas joined the protesters and chanted slogans against Pesco. They said that that the power company had failed to adopt a schedule for loadshedding.

The commuters said that there was no alternative road or route which could be used by transporters, forcing them to wait in shadows of roadside trees for opening of the road and peaceful dispersing of protesters.

People of Gohati say they are facing 18-hour outages daily

Addressing the protesters, speakers said that they had been subjected to about 18 hours loadshedding daily. They opened the road when the Pesco and police officials assured them that the loadshedding duration would be reduced.

SEMINAR: Speakers at a seminar on prevention of drugs said on Friday that it was failure of the parents and society that the youth had been indulging in drug abuse.

The event was organised by a welfare body Had Awaz and Shewa Adda traders union, and attended by police officials and councillors. After the seminar, the participants also held a walk to educate the people about dangers of narcotics.

Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Abdul Awwal said that the entire society should play its role in curbing use of drugs. Razaar tehsil nazim Ghulam Haqqani said that the drug addicts also indulged in various illegal activities because they needed money which harmed the society.

DSP Shakeel Khan said that the drug abuse could be curbed with the cooperation of society.

KILLED: A man allegedly killed his uncle over a domestic issue here on Friday.

The victim and alleged assailant belong to Shahmansoor village. Registering an FIR in Zaida police station, wife of the deceased Irshad Ali said that her husband had exchanged hot words with his nephew Imran Ali over some domestic issue.

She alleged that later Imran Ali opened fire on her husband and killed him on the spot. Police have registered an FIR and started investigation.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018