HARIPUR: Villagers from the Serae Nehmat Khan union council and Rehana village council here on Monday staged a protest against the power outages.

The protesters, led by councillors, shouted slogans against Pesco for unannounced loadshedding.

They complained that as the temperature rose, the demand for electricity also went up but the frequent power suspension and that, too, any prior announcement and during peak hours of the day and night, had subjected people to difficulties.

The protesters said that the power loadshedding had also caused water shortages in their homes and mosques. They also complained about overbilling.

They later went to the office of the deputy commissioner and lodged their complaint against Pesco.

DC Shauzab Abbas called the Pesco Xen and SDO to his office and directed them to ensure an immediate end to unannounced loadshedding and overbilling.

The protesters later dispersed peacefully.

PUBLIC ISSUES: Members of the District Public Forum Haripur on Monday complained about “non-functional” public lavatories in the city, which, they said, have caused difficulties for women and elderly people.

The DPF met with its chairman Khalid Khan Jadoon in the chair. The participants took up the residents’ issues.

The participants said that over Rs30 million was spent on the construction of over a dozen public lavatories, both for women and men, in the city around three years ago, but none of those facilities had become operational to the misery of women, elderly and patients.

They said the lavatories were damaged by “miscreants.”

The participants said it was incumbent on the TMA and district administration to make public latrines functional to the benefit of residents.

They also came down hard on the labour department for not implementing the minimum wage of Rs37,000 per month for the workers of industrial units, tehsil municipal administrations, and private business and service entities.

The participants said the provincial government had announced revision of the minimum wage to Rs40,000 from the next fiscal year but its previous orders still awaited enforcement.

They also discussed the delayed operation against the permanent and temporary encroachments in the main bazaar and the link roads that were causing obstructions in the flow of traffic and pedestrians’ mobility.

The participants decided to hold meetings with the deputy commissioner and tehsil council chairman for the resolution of people’s problems.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2025