DADU, June 21: Residents of Shaheed Colony, Mehran Colony and Kalar Machhi village staged a demonstration in Bhan Syedabad on Wednesday to protest against unannounced power cuts and overcharged billing by Hesco.

The protesters led by Mohammad Amin Khokhar, Ghulam Nabi Rahpoto and Khalid Hussain Jamali staged a demonstration on the Indus Highway in Bhan Syedabad bringing the traffic to a halt for an hour.

They alleged that Hesco officials had given illegal connections to ice and cotton factories and turned a blind eye towards 1,000 air conditioners run by consumers in Bhan Syedabad in return for heavy bribes.

They (Hesco officials) then impose unannounced load-shedding stretching to four to five hours daily and issue inflated bills to cover line losses, they said.

Residents of Mehran Colony and the Kalar Machhi village said that transformers installed in their areas stopped functioning after catching fire a couple of days before. But Hesco officials were demanding bribes to replace them, they said.

CHEQUES: District Nazim Karim Ali Jatoi distributed zakat cheques among 300 deserving persons of 30 dehs on Wednesday at the Community Centre in Khairpur Nathan Shah.

The nazim suspended the chairman of deh Kharo Kaniaro zakat committee, Mohammad Suleman over growing public complaints.

DEMO: A large number of people and political activists staged a demonstration outside the press club here on Wednesday to protest against use of substandard material in construction of a road from Accho Hotel to the railway crossing. The protesters led by Haji Mohammad Mithal Zounr and Mohammad Amin Jamali demanded that quality material be used in the construction of road.

HUNGER STRIKE: Ms Izzat Khatoon, a councillor, observed a token hunger strike outside the press club on the third consecutive day on Wednesday to protest against the EDO roads for allegedly refusing to construct a road from the Jam Zardari village to Radhan.