Protest against Wapda in Dera Bugti enters 10th day

Authority accused of ‘deliberately delays’ in work on transmission lines

QUETTA: The protest against Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) over the prolonged power breakdown in Dera Bugti has entered the 10th day.

Wapda has announced shifting Dera Bugti’s transmission lines to 11000MW from 33,000MW, following electricity shortage across the country. Delay in the shifting process has rendered several Dera Bugti villages – including Mud Modrani, Toli, Lanjho Sewari – without power for 10 days.

On Saturday, the protesters burnt tyres and blocked the roads for all kinds of traffic. They chanted slogans demanding immediate resumption of electricity. They blamed Wapda officials for ‘deliberate delays’ in the shifting work.

“We have been without electricity for 10 days… and this has caused severe shortage of water for drinking and irrigation. Our lands are drying up as there is no water,” said Mir Jan Muhammad Bugti, the Chairman of Zameendar Action Committee Dera Bugti.

He said that Wapda received hundreds of thousands rupees in terms of billing, but they were making deliberate delays in shifting the transmission lines.

Mir Jan said they would not be able to operate tube wells if power was supplied through 11,000MW transmission lines. “It is tantamount to our economic murder,” he added.



“It takes merely one or two days for shifting the transmission lines but despite the lapse of 10 days we are still deprived of electricity as Wapda employees are delaying the process deliberately,” he added.

The protesters alleged that the officials wanted them to grease their palms and that was why they were adopting delaying tactics. They sought immediate attention of the provincial government over the issue.



Provincial assembly member Nawabzada Gohram Bugti, meanwhile, slammed the Wapda’s behavior and pledged that the issue would be resolved in the next few days as “I am leaving for Dera Bugti to take stock of the situation”.

“The issue is being handled by the federal government, but being a representative of Dera Bugti, we have been approaching all stakeholders, including the Balochistan chief minister, over the valid demands of our people,” Gohram said, adding that the prolonged power breakdown had been destroying agriculture in Dera Bugti where a large number of residents were associated with farming.

Talking on the behavior of Wapda officials, Gohram said corruption could not be separated from this issue, “because in the past as well, similar delays have been witnessed with Wapda’s lower staff asking for bribe”.
He assured the people that the issued would be resolved soon. “We demand of the authority to take strict action against their corrupt employees,” Gohram said, adding that he would himself shift the transmission lines if there was no other option.