PESHAWAR, July 23: People on Monday blocked major roads of the provincial capital, including Kohat Road and Ring Road, against excessive loadshedding, suspending traffic for long hours.

The Khan Mast Colony, Syed Hassan Pir Colony and Yakatut area residents threw stones on the roads and blocked vehicular traffic.

Protesters shouted anti-government slogans and asked rulers to step down or ensure smooth electricity supply to their localities. They also destroyed the roadside signboards and billboards.

Similarly, the inhabitants of Warsak Road, Rasheedabad, Daudzai, Dalazak Road, Faqirabad and Charsadda Road also took out anti-loadshedding processions in their respective areas.

They held banners and placards inscribed with calls for uninterrupted supply and shouted slogans against the government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

The people of Matani and adjacent localities also took out processions against prolonged power cuts and condemned the government over failure to ensure smooth power supply during Ramazan.

The protest on Kohat Road was led by Haji Akbar, Saeedullah and Iftikhar Ali, who said provision of electricity remained suspended for over 18 hours daily.

They said the people had pinned high hopes on new Pesco chief executive Tariq Saddozai but to no avail.

Protesters said in the scorching heat, their main problem was non-availability of drinking water as they couldn’t pump up water to overhead water tanks both at home and in mosques.

“We pay inflated bills regularly to Pesco, which has failed to provide us with electricity. Now, people are left with no option but to block roads,” Haji Akbar said, adding that people would continue protesting until the problem was resolved.

The Warsak Road residents said there was no shortage of electricity but the government had intentionally created the crisis to pave way for installation of rental power plants to receive kickbacks from private companies.

They said the ANP-led government was equally responsible for excessive loadshedding because it had promised to provide 100 units of electricity free to consumers in the province but failed to do so.

In some localities, protesters complained of low voltage of electric supply.

They appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of their misery and ensure smooth electric supply to them.

A source in Pesco said a major cause of massive loadshedding was the damaged heavy transmission towers in Surizai Badbher.

He said the two were blown up by militants 10 months ago but they couldn’t be repaired due to the kidnapping of the relevant linemen by militants.

However, Shaukat Afzal, a spokesman for Pesco, told Dawn that the company was following the government’s load management plan.

He said Pesco was bound to suspend electric supply as all its feeders were overburdened due to massive consumption.

APP adds that provincial governor Masood Kausar on Monday asked the Pesco authorities to ensure judicious treatment to power consumers while implementing load management plan in the province.

Speaking to delegations from Kohat and Nowan Kili area in Peshawar at the Governor’s House, Mr Kausar said the authorities should also ensure security of power installations.

He said power outages was a national problem but there should be judicious implementation of the load management plan.

The Pesco officials, who were also present in the meetings, assured the governor that they would try their level best to address public complaints.