SHANGLA: Residents of Ranyal union council here on Friday blocked Bisham-Swat road for about four hours to protest excessive and unscheduled power outages in Alpuri tehsil.

Carrying placards, the protesters also chanted slogans against the Peshawar Electric Supply Company and its sub-divisional officer for unscheduled suspension of power supply.

Former MPA Mohammad Rashad Khan, Afsar Jehan, Jehan Alam and Hidayatullah led the protest. Addressing the protesters, they said that the local people had been facing problems due to prolonged power outages. They claimed the power supply was suspended whenever clouds appeared in the sky.

They said that SSC examinations were in progress and the power suspension was causing difficulties for the students to make preparation for their papers.

“We have been paying our bills regularly, but despite that we are subjected to about 20-hour loadshedding daily, while during rain the power supply to the area remains suspended,” claimed Afsar Jehan.

Say they have been paying bills regularly

The protesters dispersed after assistant commissioner revenue, Shangla, Azhar Zahoor assured them that the issue would be resolved within two days.

KILLED: Two people were killed and several others injured in accidents here on Friday.

Police said that a pickup van plunged into a ravine near Chorbat village, leaving its driver dead and three women injured. Local people shifted the injured to the district headquarters hospital, Alpuri.

In another accident, five people of a family were injured when a car veered off the road near Shaheda Kerai on Bisham-Swat road. The car was part of a wedding party returning from Mardan.

The injured were taken to the tehsil headquarters hospital, Bisham, but due to lack of facilities the relatives shifted them to a private hospital. However, two of the injured were referred to a hospital in Swat of whom a girl Abida of Bar Butyal succumbed to her injuries.

The relatives of the victims also chanted slogans against the hospital administration. The deputy commissioner has formed a committee to probe the matter of delay in provision first aid to the injured.

STAY BANNED: The district administration here has banned the stay of passengers travelling between Gilgit-Baltistan and Rawalpindi on the Karakoram Highway in Shangla amid coronavirus threat.

The decision was taken after coronavirus cases surfaced in Gilgit-Baltistan. In a statement, the administration asked the local hoteliers to stop providing facility of stay to travellers coming from Gilgit-Baltistan or Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020