SHEIKHUPURA, Oct 21: Traffic on GT Road near Muridke remained suspended for about five hours when a large number of people launched a demonstration to protest against excessive electricity billing and power outages on Tuesday.
The protesters besieged the office of Lesco executive engineer and tried to set it ablaze, however, a police contingent led by the Muridke DSP stopped the demonstrators from doing so.
The protesters later blocked GT Road and threw traffic out of gear for about five hours while chanting slogans against excessive billing and loadshedding up to 14 hours.
In a bid to restore traffic, the police resorted to baton-charging and teargas shelling, injuring around 40 protesters. This further infuriated the protesters and they pelted stones on the police as a result of which six policemen, including DSP Shahid Hafiz, Muridke city SHO Rana Akmal and two ASIs, sustained injuries.
The police, however, made the protesters lift the blockade after an assurance by Lesco authorities that demonstrators’ demands would be sent to higher authorities. The police later registered a case against 250 protesters.
Locals have warned that they would launch a protest again if their demands, including transfer of the executive engineer and the SDO, were not met immediately.
FAISALABAD: A large number of women staged a demonstration outside Fesco’s office in Ghulam Mohammadabad against power outages and inflated bills.
The protesters said excessive billing and hours-long outages had made their lives miserable. They said they were finding it difficult to make their both ends meet owing to price hike and excessive billing.
The protesters also torched electricity bills and demanded the government recall new tariff while threatening that they would react harshly if any effort to severe their electricity connections was made.
The demonstrators also chanted slogans against the government calling its policies merely “a sequel of General Pervez Musharraf’s regime.”
Another protest demonstration was held outside Fesco’s Faizabad subdivision office. The protesters holding placards and an effigy of President Asif Ali Zardari chanted slogans against the government.
Police contingents guarded both the demonstrations to prevent any untoward incident.