KARAK, Dec 9: People of Banda Daud Shah tehsil blocked the Indus Highway for over three hours on Sunday to protest against low gas pressure and unavailability of other basic amenities in their area.

The protestors led by district vice-president of Jamaat-i-Islami Maulana Tasleem Iqbal, JUI-F leader Qari Jehanzeb and Imtiaz advocate marched from Banda Daud Shah tehsil in a vehicular procession to the Indus Highway and blocked it for traffic at Jail Chowk.

The protestors chanted slogans against the government and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited and set a three-day deadline for them to resolve their problems. They warned that in case otherwise they would besiege the Central Processing Facility (CPF) at Makori. The residents had announced a day before to begin a movement to claim their rights, saying that elected representatives had ignored their area over last four and a half years.

Addressing the protesters, the speakers said that there was complete shutter down strike in the tehsil against the injustices being meted out to them.

They said that most roads in the tehsil, including the one linking the tehsil with district headquarters, were in a shambles.

The speakers also complained about unavailability of drinking water and said the situation had forced the people to use rainwater.

They said that Karak district received Rs1.14 billion oil and gas royalty in current fiscal due to presence of vast oil and gas resources in Banda Daud Shah, but they were yet to receive its benefits.

They said if their rights were denied then they would not let supply of gas to other areas of the country.

Later, leaders of the protesters held negotiations with district officer revenue Ali Mohammad and SNGPL Karak office in-charge Mohammad Farooq.  Mr Farooq said that due to illegal connections in the tehsil they could not increase the gas pressure above 35 per cent, as substandard gas pipes used by people would rupture and result in damage. The elders agreed with the administration that the SNGPL would replace the illegal connections with legal ones.

Meanwhile, the SNGPL suspended gas supply to Karak tehsil to repair the main supply line on Sunday after it was damaged by some people at Peer Mela area.