K & P

Protests over K-P power outages turn violent

Protesters close down Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway in Tarujaba area; Wapda office comes under attack

Our Correspondent July 06, 2015

PHOTO: EXPRESS

PESHAWAR: As the mercury rose throughout Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Monday, protests over incessant power outages became violent with the Grand Trunk road being the clash point between government authorities and angry mobs.

Protesters closed down the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway in Tarujaba area while some others from nearby villages rooted out plantations and threw them at the passing vehicles, causing the closure of main highway for almost all sorts of traffic.

Read: Heatwave: K-P declares state of emergency in hospitals in Peshawar

Meanwhile, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) office also came under attack when charged protesters vandalised its office building, broke furniture and tore up official documents.

Wapda officials had to take refuge on the roof of the office building as they watched protestors ripping-off the main gate which was initially closed down to keep the protesters out.

“The supply of electricity is restored just for five minutes every 24 hours,” claimed one of the protesters.

However, officials said the areas facing massive load-shedding are those where people are either not paying their bills or where the power utility company is facing severe line loses because of illegal connections.

Read: Spreading darkness: Protests over power outages continue into second day

Similar protests were reported across the province with the police busy negotiating with protesters in several areas amid reports of oil tankers being stopped to impede the oil supply to the province.

Earlier in Swabi, protestors burnt down the Wapda’s sub-divisional office and the office of an additional civil judge.

Last month, dozens of people were injured and arrested as violent protests over unscheduled blackouts were carried out across K-P. At least 16 protesters were injured and 54 others were put behind bars, including four under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

COMMENTS (14)

Alter Ego | 8 years ago | Reply @Napier Man: How many people in KP pay their electricity bill ? You cant complain.

A Peshawary | 8 years ago | Reply @Sceptic: @Chachoo: Please quote the source of payment of electricity bills by 10% of KPK populations. These are figures without any basis and recommended by blindfolded Punjabis without any reason. Please be pragmatic in quoting figures to avoid being called as lairs. A Peshawary

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Neutral | 8 years ago | Reply @Real Jutt: The same could be said about KPK. You and I know that you are making it up. You are naively comparing punjab to the developed world, how come its not producing its own electricity instead of sucking it off the rest of the country?

Ignorance | 8 years ago | Reply @Adnan Siddiqi: Ignorance is a bliss!

Adnan Siddiqi | 8 years ago | Reply Why isn't KPK producing it's own electricity? After all, the 18th amendment grants exclusive right to the province to generate power. There is life beyond dances, dharna and lies you know.

Punjabi | 8 years ago | Reply Punjab will be having a recovery rate of 90 perceent. But why does not Punjab produce its own electricity. KPK already produces more electricity than it needs but still it is empty handed in the end. federal government happy purchases cheap electricity from KPK and KPK is bound to sell it at a cheap rate. And then Federal gov sells the same electricity back to KPK at an exuberant rate. Is this justice to the KPK people? And mind you KPK people have faced militancy and given heavy sacrificies, while at the same time Punjab was getting rich and fat. That is the reason Punjab has recovery of 90 percent and KPK people are forced to steal rather than just die.

Listener | 8 years ago | Reply These people should protest in front of their political parties offices like ANP and other Nationalist parties and vandalism their properties who are telling them if the Kalabagh Dam constructs half of KP and whole Nohshara would be submerged under water. (false myth). Untill there are big dam the power crisis will continue. Even Govt installs nuclear, thermal, coal, wind or solar power plants generating enough energy for Pakistan, these protest will continue as electricity piece will be unfordable. Just wait for few more years (max 10-15 years) when the water will not be available, Pakistani will forget about electricity crises though there would be very scarce electricity, . People will be buying electricity around Rs100 per unit and drinking water bottle Rs 1000. Then don't blame WAPDA, blame yours leader who are spiting venom against big dams or who are not constructing Dams and are wasting national resources on Metros.

Real Jutt | 8 years ago | Reply @Neutral: Punjab have a recovery rate of more than 90 percent. The recovery rate in Punjab is equivalent to the developed world. So first update yourself about Punjab and then comment here.

Neutral | 8 years ago | Reply Almost all of the industries and most of the normal cosumers in punjab are stealing electricity amounting to 3/4th of the total electricity production, even though electricity is produced by these other province but unfairly the rest of the provinces are subjected to the same amount or more of load shedding.

Farooq | 8 years ago | Reply Rules must be made to deal with protests as black sheep and criminal minded people take advantage of such emotional gatherings to indulge in violence and destruction of property. No protester has a right to be violent and loss of public property must be recovered from the offenders. The power theft should also be dealt with an iron hand, where ever it is- be it a province of Pakistan or tribal area.

Waseem Sarwar | 8 years ago | Reply @Sceptic: This is where government comes into frame. Take action again those with illegal connections or bill defaulter. How is that fair to those who pay bills? It's job of government to take action, not for people themselves.

Chachoo | 8 years ago | Reply @Napier Man: We have the load shedding in Punjab as well. In my city we do not have any electricity for almost half a day. But we do understand the situation that we have an energy crisis and it will take some time before this problem will be resolved. Also many regions of KP have a line loss of more than 50 percent. This means that almost half of the population do not bother to pay any bills. So kindly do understand that you are a part of the problem as you are not paying your bills and enjoying royalties at the same time. The federal government have to pay the line losses from their own pockets and after this bailout of billions not much money is left for multi-billion projects. I could not understand that why Imran Khan is not persuading the residents of KP to pay the bills. Why PTI is not taking action against the massive theft of electricity. Lastly before bringing up the Dams argument i must say that they are a federal property and KP get the royalty of billions on these dams.

Sceptic | 8 years ago | Reply KP residents should be the lost one to protest on the load-shedding. Only 10% consumers pay their bill and line-loses and power theft is immense in the province. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Napier Man | 8 years ago | Reply Whatever power available has been provided to favourite province Punjab, hence K-P will not get required power...simple as that.

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