KHYBER: The residents of Landi Kotal on Sunday besieged the local grid station for nearly six hours, and also switched off all the feeders supplying electricity to entire tehsil, Torkham and the army camp in protest against excessive loadshedding.

They threatened to disrupt electricity supply to entire Khyber tribal district if the duration of loadshedding was not curtailed.

Chanting slogans against the Tribal Areas Electricy Supply Company (Tesco) for allegedly subjecting the residents to nearly 20 hours of loadshedding, the protesters said they would forcibly stop work on the new transmission line from Tajikistan.

They also rejected installation of digital electricity meters at their homes and demanded of Tesco to ensure six hours of power supply to domestic consumers as agreed.

Though no protests were held in Bara and Jamrud tehsils, the local residents said they got only four hours of electricity daily and that too in intervals, causing them great hardships.

Tesco officials had held open kutcherys in Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal during the last week to convince people to install digital meters at their homes, but residents refused to oblige.

Meanwhile, Bara Press Club in collaboration with Maaroof Karwan organised a poetry session to welcome spring in Khyber.

A local poet, Qandahar Afridi chaired the session, while Saqib Afridi acted as moderator. Poets and writers recited their pieces and received applause from the participants.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023