Unannounced, prolonged blackouts protested in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: The residents and political activists on Wednesday staged a protest against the excessive power blackouts and alleged overbilling and fines on consumers by the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco).

They blocked the road for several hours for traffic to record their protest over the issue.The Awami National Party (ANP) had given the call for protest against what they called, shifting of Rs56 billion arrears by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to consumers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, unannounced and prolonged power cuts, overbilling, imposition of unjust fines on consumers and their undue arrests.

The small and big markets and other business places remained closed throughout the day.  The activists of ANP, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), shopkeepers, traders and local people took out a protest rally and gathered at the Farooq-e-Azam Chowk and blocked it for traffic. The blockade of the square disrupted traffic in the district and the commuters and transporters faced immense hardships to reach their destinations.

ANP provincial joint secretary Aimal Wali, deputy general secretary Abdul Rasheed, district president Barrister Arshad Abdullah, JUI-F district chief Maulana Muhammad Hashim and president Tajir Ittehad’s Maulana Salahuddin Shakir was leading the protesters.

The speakers said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was producing surplus power and it was the constitutional right of the people of the province to have right on the indigenous resources.They said the Wapda officials did not perform duties and alleged that they were involved in power theft. They said the authority sent inflated bills and imposed unjust fines on consumers and shifted burden of line losses to people to cover up its incompetency.

Aimal Wali rejected the decision and termed it unjust. Criticising Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, he said that Imran Khan did not care for the people of the province. He said Imran Khan had turned a blind eye to unannounced and excessive power outages in the province. “Loadshedding, inflation, lawlessness and unemployment made the life for the people miserable while Imran Khan and his party’s led government in the province are unconcerned,” he added.

He asked the people not to pay arrears as a protest against the unbearable power cuts and other excesses of Wapda. He said the ANP would launch a protest campaign if the Pesco and Wapda did not mend its ways and continue to hassle the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.