LAHORE, March 28: People ransacked a Lesco office in Township on Wednesday when officials refused to exclude fuel adjustment surcharge from their electricity bills.

Lesco Customer Service Centre near Omer Chowk of Township is second office of the company to face protesters’ wrath in two days. Loadshedding-stricken Lahorites on Tuesday ransacked Lesco Regional Customer Service Centre at Ichhra and set on fire all its record, equipment and furniture.

An official told Dawn that people started coming to the centre early in the morning with the demand that the surcharge should be excluded from their bills as announced by Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar.

Since nothing had been received in black and white either from the ministry in Islamabad or the Lesco head office in this regard, the consumers were asked to pay their bills.

“At around noon, a group of unruly youth forced their entry into the office and started turning everything upside down -- furniture, windowpanes and cupboards. The matter was brought to the knowledge of the executive engineer who called in the police to control the situation,” said the official.

Later, the protesters marched toward Shauq Chowk and staged a demonstration there. They burnt tyres and raised slogans against the federal minister. After two hours or so, the protesters dispersed peacefully, but motorists remained stuck up for another two hours.

Also, traders and residents of Urdu Bazaar, Akbari Road, medicine market of Lohari Gate and Paan Gali of Anarkali staged a demonstration at Ghora Chowk on Circular Road against power outages.

Separately, the Lahore Bar Association announced that it would take out protest rallies and besiege Wapda House if loadshedding does not go away within a week. The announcement was made by LBA president Zulfiqar Ali at a general house meeting on Wednesday.

In Faisalabad, industrial areas saw another day of protests by thousands of powerloom workers on Wednesday. The protest rallies were taken out on the call of the Labour Qaumi Movement, a major union of powerloom workers.

Powerloom workers of Jhang Road, Sidhar, Narawala Road, Faizabad, Ghulam Mohammad Abad, Samundri Road and other areas observed a strike and closed their weaving units. They staged protest rallies and blocked traffic on Jhang Road and Sidhar Bypass for about four hours. They also staged a sit-in.

Traffic remained stuck up on Sargodha Road and administration had to give diversion to traffic leaving or coming from the Motorway. The protesters burnt tyres, raised slogans against the rulers, damaged some public vehicles and pelted motorists on Jhang Road and Samundri Road with stones.

Talking to reporters, the protesters said the federal government had improved the supply of electricity after protest demonstrations. However, they said workers were still bearing the brunt of government’s ill-conceived policies.

In Sargodha, traders staged a protest rally against loadshedding. The protesters burnt tyres, deep freezers and refrigerators at Noori Gate Chowk on Khushab Road. The protest rally started from Satellite Chowk and culminated on Khushab Road.