LAKKI MARWAT: Local farmers blocked the Indus Highway here on Wednesday to protest unavailability of water in the Kachkot canal and excessive power loadshedding in their villages.

Over 500 residents gathered at Gandi chowk where they staged a sit-in on the highway and closed it to all kinds of vehicular traffic. The closure of highway troubled the transporters and commuters.

On the occasion, the elders said unavailability of water had damaged their standing crops, especially wheat crop. They claimed that the irrigation department was repeatedly requested to ensure flow of water in the canal but to no avail. “The yearlong hard work of farmers will go waste if authorities concerned don’t take prompt measures for ensuring flow of water in the canal,” lamented a protester.

The elders also condemned the local Pesco authorities for carrying out excessive power outages in the rural localities.

Later, deputy commissioner Mohammad Bakhtiar Khan and district naib nazim Haji Arab Khan convinced the protesters to open the highway after assuring them that their concerns would be conveyed to the relevant quarters.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2016