Power outages protested in Nowshera & DI Khan

NOWSHERA/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Hundreds of protesters staged protest rallies against the hours-long electricity loadshedding in Nowshera and Dera Ismail Khan on Monday.

The residents in Rashakai gathered on Nowshera-Mardan road and blocked it for vehicular traffic near Rashakai Interchange against the frequent power outages for over three hours. Chairmen of various village councils, including Nihar Muhammad, Muddassir Shah Bacha, Farzand Ali and Awami national Party activists Zakir Khan and Dr Riaz Khan were spearheading the protestors.

Addressing the protesters, the leaders said that the federal government had recently held out an assurance to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister about reducing the time of electricity loadshedding but they were still subjected to unprecedented power suspension for hours. They said that power outages had become order of the day, which had paralyzed their routine life and businesses.

Later, the protestors reopened the road for traffic after Assistant Commissioner Tanveer Ahmad’s assurance that the time of power loadshedding would be reduced within three days. In Dera Ismail Khan, the traders and businessmen in a meeting criticized the elected provincial and federal lawmakers for their indifferent attitude to resolve the issue of electricity loadshedding. They lamented that the government had increased the duration of electricity outages instead of decreasing.