Quetta residents protest low gas pressure

Warn of besieging SSGC office if grievance not addressed

QUETTA: Irked at the drastic fall in utility gas pressure after the onset of intense cold weather here, Quetta citizens took to the streets and blocked traffic in protest against the government, and threatened to surround the Sui Southern Gas Company office as a last resort if their grievance was not addressed.

A large number of people from Murreabad, Hazara Town, Pushtunabad, Kharotabad and other localities staged a protest Monday outside the Quetta Press Club during which residents, including women and children of the Saryab area, held up traffic at various points including the national highway and the roads leading to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital, the Awami Pump, Bibi Nani and nearby areas by staging a sit-in.

Bibi Nani residents said on the occasion that they had approached the authorities as well as Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) to request an increase in gas supply in view of the growing population, but to no avail.

Addressing the gathering, Tahir Hazara, Nizam Achakzai, Abdul Rehman Barich, Abdul Qayyum Kakar and others maintained that the provincial capital’s citizens were facing immense difficulties due to the suspension of gas supply to their households.

They also lamented that their children were suffering in the intense cold weather and students and office-goers were also finding it hard to go about their daily activities. They further complained that the city’s ‘tandoors’ were closed due to a strike and citizens had to wait in long queues in the morning to get bread.

They also expressed their concern at the impending state of affairs during the severe cold weather in the middle of winter when the situation at the start of the season was so bad, and demanded that the gas supply company take immediate notice.

Traffic remained blocked for over four hours following which Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) parliamentary leader Naseer Ahmed Shahwani met the Sui Gas General Manager and apprised him of the problems being faced by the people.

The company official pledged action to alleviate the situation upon which the demonstrators ended their protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2019.