MIANWALI, June 27: The closure of several water-supply schemes in the district due to non-payment of electricity bills has panicked the people who are facing difficulties in fetching drinking water from far-off places.

Scores of residents of Paikhel Town, which is about 22 kilometres from here, blocked Mianwali-Bannu Road to traffic to register protest against severing of water connections in the extreme weather conditions.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against the government and Wapda authorities for “depriving them of drops of water by severing water-supply connection a few weeks ago”.

Among the protesters was Union Council Nazim Asmatullah Khan who said the Tehsil Municipal Administration had no funds to pay Wapda dues.

A source in the TMA office told Dawn that the government had ceased their funds and an audit was in progress. The administration would clear the dues only when the government withdrew from the audit, he added.

Wapda (Fesco) Revenue

Office in-charge Hassan Ali Mansoor said the company had severed water-supply connections in the jurisdictions of the three TMAs in the district due to non-payment of electricity bills.

He said the 131 water schemes in the TMAs’ areas owed the company hundreds of thousands of rupees (collectively) which had forced Fesco to sever the connections.

ARREST OF Pos: The district police claimed on Friday to have arrested some proclaimed offenders, with recovery of unlicensed weapons and narcotics.