DERA ISMAIL KHAN/SWABI: Dera women and residents of Chota Lahor tehsil of Swabi blocked roads against excessive electric loadshedding on Wednesday.

Women stormed the local grid station and blocked road against ‘cruel’ loadshedding spanning more than 20 hours a day.

The protesters were chanting slogans against Peshawar Electric Supply Company, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who both belong to Dera.

The women first held a demonstration outside the Pesco offices, and later reached the grid station and blocked the road to traffic there.

The protesters said political leaders made tall claims during the election campaign, but when they won, they failed to resolve the electricity problem facing the people of Dera.

Outages also trigger protest in Chota Lahor tehsil of Swabi

They said houses of Chief Minister Ali Amin and Governor Faisal Karim received uninterrupted electricity supply from different sources.

They said they would hold such representatives accountable and would not vote for them in the next elections.

The protesting women raised slogans against the public representatives and demanded immediate reduction in the loadshedding duration.

They said duration of electric loadshedding had reached 18 to 22 hours, stressing them out in the hot weather.

The women threatened to continue agitating if loadshedding duration wasn’t curtailed.

Meanwhile, people of Chota Lahor blocked the Swabi-Jahangira Road for several hours to protest against excessive electric loadshedding.

The protesters reached Jehangira Bridge, which links Swabi with Nowshera, and blocked the road to traffic.

Announcements were made over loudspeakers, asking the people to join the protest demonstration against loadshedding.

The protestors categorically warned Pesco that they would not lift the road blockage until a written agreement was reached with them to end the outages.

They said that political leaders themselves were enjoying their lives sitting in air-conditioned rooms, while the general public suffered in harsh summer season.

Ayaz Khan, a protest leader, said Tarbela Dam produced 4,488MW of electricity, but people of Swabi district were being subjected to prolonged outages despite giving land for the mega project. He said the government’s policy had forced them to take to the streets to demand their rights.

The commuters faced hardships while waiting for reopening of the road in severe heat. However, there was no option because the protesters were in an aggressive mood and did not allow anyone to move ahead.

Khalid Khan, who was on way to the district headquarters, said: “Even the critical patients were not allowed to proceed.”

Later, talks were held between the protest leaders and Chota Lahor assistant commissioner Azki Fatima, but they failed to produce any result.

“We are not begging for power supply, but rather it is out right,” Shaukat Khan Advocate, a protest leader, told the AC.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2024