SHANGLA: People blocked the main Alpuri-Puran road at Aloch Bazaar here on Friday to protest frequent power outages and low voltage.

A local committee of elders had given the call for protest, and people from Puran, Martung and Makhozi participated in the demonstration.

Addressing the protesters, the speakers said that they were fed up with the promises of the elected representatives, local administration and Pesco officials, as their electricity problems were yet to be resolved.

They said that people in almost half of the district were suffering due to the power outages and low voltage.

Mohammad Ali, a PML-N activist, claimed that the Pesco was observing over 20 hours daily loadshedding in the areas, making life difficult for the people.

He said that they had staged several protests against power outages and each time false promises were made with them about resolution of the electricity-related issues.

Karimullah, an elder, said that Puran people had proved that they could come on to roads against any department to claim their rights. He said that the people of Puran and its suburbs had been paying their bills regularly, but the Pesco was ignoring resolution of their issues.

Another resident Tahir Hussain said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had made a promise during a public meeting in Puran about a month ago that work on the local grid station would be started within few days, but they were still waiting for practical steps in this regard.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner, Puran, Sohailur Rehman and SDPO Zahir Rehman held negotiations with the protesters and assured them that the issue of unscheduled power outages and low voltage would be resolved on priority. After the assurance, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2021