THATTA, Aug 30: Hundreds of power consumers, holding lanterns in their hands, took to the streets of Daro and Mirpur Bathoro towns, late Thursday night, to protest against the unscheduled power breakdowns, excessive billing in the name of detection bills, and the crystal meters, followed by a token hunger strike on Friday.

The United Merchants Association staged a hunger strike at the government primary school, under the leadership of its vice president Rafique Ahmed Essani.

They had earlier warned the Hesco high-ups that if the SDO Hesco, Sujawal sub-division, Sohail Shaikh, whom the organisation believed to be responsible for the irregularities and trouble making for the consumers, was not removed within three days, they would launch a campaign in Daro and Bathoro towns.

The vice president of UMA Rafique Essani, professor Ghulam Zainul Abedin, Muhammad Afzal Memon, Muhammad Hassan Soomro, Tufail Ahmed Memon, Rehmatullah Fazlani and others pledged to continue the strike till the removal of the SDO and improvement in power system in the area.

They alleged that the Hesco authorities were themselves responsible for encouraging kunda system in the sub-division and to cover up line losses and corrupt practices, they were issuing detection bills to the poor consumers.

They said the Hesco staff was extorting money from the factories and the helpless consumers had to pay for the mismanagement.

voters boycott: A group of voters from a coastal town, Ghora Bari, in Mirpur Sakro sub-division, has announced that they would not to cast their votes in the general elections as they believed that their votes always brought good for nothing feudal lords in power, who did nothing for the common man and only multiplied their wealth.

This was announced following a meeting of the citizens held on Thursday.

The speakers, Raheem Chandio, Ali Mohammad, Abbas Gopang and others were of the view that on getting elected their representatives always cheated the voters, abused their authority and resorted to favouritism and nepotism and multiplied their wealth by misappropriating the public funds.

They said the fuedal lords had placed their kith and kin in the political arena and they did not expect any good from them either.

The meeting decided to paste a message on every door of the town carrying a message for the contestants that they should not bother to knock at their doors, as this time they had collectively decided, not to be fooled.