SHANGLA: The traders and residents of Bisham tehsil blocked the Karakoram Highway on Saturday to record their protest against prolonged power suspension and the National Highway Authority for allegedly not allowing installation of electricity poles along KKH for the grid station.

The protesters blocked the highway for about four hours and observed shutter down strike. They were shouting slogans against Pesco for suspension of power supply to the Bisham tehsil. The protest was called by the local traders and a rally was also held in Bisham bazaar.

Addressing the protesters, the speakers, including Humayun Khan, Mohammad Nasim, Guldad Khan, Mohammad Zada and others, said that power supply was suspended for three days in the area due to which local people had been facing severe problems.

Ask NHA to allow installation of poles along highway

“We have given last warning to Pesco to end the practice of unscheduled loadshedding and sending inflated bills, as we are fed up with this injustice,” said Mohammad Zada, a village nazim.

He warned that next time they would besiege the 72-megawatt Khan Khwar project’s powerhouse, situated in Bisham, because they had given their precious land, mini-power stations, etc for the project, but its electricity was enjoyed by residents of other provinces.

Mr Nasim claimed that hundreds of consumers had applied for power metres a year ago, but Pesco was yet to install the metres and instead registered FIRs against them.

Guldad Khan, a village nazim from Butyal, said that a grid station in Shang Bisham had been completed, but NHA stopped the Pesco construction department from digging up pits for electricity poles along KKH.

Shujat Ali, a local activist, said that Pesco had suspended the power supply to the area three days ago despite hot weather though record recovery had been done in Bisham subdivision in June. He said that low voltage was also a major problem in the area.

Humayun Khan said that despite several promises by federal minister Murad Saeed the issue of electric poles could not be resolved.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner, Bisham, Amir Mohammad and Pesco SDO Mohammad Ali held talks with the protesters and assured them that the issue of electric poles would be taken up with the concerned authorities, while repair work on the power supply line of Bisham would be completed soon.

The protesters set the deadline of July 25 to NHA to allow Pesco to install power supply poles.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2019