VKHYBER: Tribal elders in Jamrud announced boycott of the ongoing polio vaccination campaign in protest against excessive electricity loadshedding as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers organised a demonstration in Bara on Monday against prolonged power outages.

The Kukikhel elders alleged that they were subjected to over 20 hours of power suspension daily despite the assurance by local grid station staff that there would be six hours of power supply every day.

Announcing their boycott of the polio drive, they also threatened to forcibly shut down Jamrud grid station if they were not provided with promised hours of electricity.

Former PTI MNA from Bara Iqbal Afridi said during the protest demonstration in Bara that local residents were faced with multiple problems due to long hours of loadshedding and low voltage of electricity.

He threatened to suspend electricity to Matani and Hayatabad localities of Peshawar if the previous schedule of loadshedding was not restored.

Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company had announced in December that it could no more provide free electricity to merged districts and would resort to almost 22 hours of loadshedding till the region’s residents agreed to install digital electricity meters at their homes.

The announcement was followed by some violent protests in Khyber with enraged protesters storming the local grid stations and forcibly suspending power supply to the entire district.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2023