KOHAT, April 29: Residents of the College Town blocked the Rawalpindi road on Friday to protest against persistent water shortage in the area after Pesco had disconnected power supply to tube-wells in Town-1 of the district.

The supply was cut to recover outstanding dues from the tehsil municipal administration.

The fire brigade department informed Dawn that since Friday morning till noon, they had received over 400 applications for water from various parts of the city. They were trying to manage the situation, which was becoming serious every hour.

The business community hired labourers to fetch potable water from the springs situated near the city, while people were seen gathered around private tube-wells to take water for bath and ablution for Friday prayers.

Meanwhile, the district Wapda Hydro Electric Labour Union staged a protest. They were demanding action against the tehsil municipal officer who had manhandled one of their staff members disconnecting power supply to the city tube-well.

Protestors led by union president Younis Shah and secretary-general Fauji Bad Shah threatened that if the police did not register a case against the TMO, they would cut electricity supply to the whole district. They marched from the urban sub-division office to the rural sub division.

On the other hand, the TMA has asked police to provide protection to his staff as Wapda employees also attacked them on Thursday.

Kohat Pesco had disconnected power supply to all the rural and urban tube-wells, run by the tehsil municipal administration, to recover Rs9.8 million outstanding dues.

MPA Syed Qalb-i-Hassan, presiding over an emergency meeting at the TMA hall, said Pesco should immediately restore the power supply to all the tube-wells and stop disconnections.

He asked the XEN to help resolve the issue. The town nazim, tehsil municipal officer and other public representatives were present on the occasion.

The TMO said Rs7 million were outstanding against the TMA out of which Rs4 million was disputed amount.

The municipal officer said he had offered the XEN to pay the actual outstanding amount, but the engineer was demanding full payment.

XEN Shaukat Ali, when contacted, said Rs7 million was previous a figure, but now the amount had piled up to Rs9.8 million. About the allegation of over-billing, he said readings had been checked through courts for the first time in the history of the country, which had been found correct.

He said the TMO, in the presence of the superintending engineer Khyber Circle, had agreed to pay Rs1.8 million of the outstanding money the same day, but due to unknown reasons, he had backed out of the commitment.

He said the district nazim, at a meeting held in the office of executive officer finance 20 days ago, had assured him to clear the dues, but he failed to fulfil the pledge.

In reply to a question, the XEN said he would restore the power supply in the public interest if any responsible district government official took responsibility to help clear at least half of the amount within a week.