Balochistan opp irked at prolonged outages

Protest staged in Balochistan Assembly demanding immediate restoration of power supply to all districts of province

QUETTA:

Opposition members staged a protest in the Balochistan Assembly against unannounced and prolonged load-shedding on Thursday.

Opposition lawmakers left their seats and gathered in the middle of the house to record their protest.

“General public is really tired of Wapda and Qesco,” Asghar Tareen, a lawmaker from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) said.

They also chanted slogans against Wapda and Qesco and demanded immediate restoration of power supply to all districts of Balochistan.

“Wapda has destroyed the agriculture sector of Balochistan,” Malak Naseer Shahwani the parliamentary leader in the Balochistan Assembly said.

Most of Balochistan’s population is dependent on agriculture and according to statistics around 75 per cent of the population’s income is from this sector.

The rural areas of Balochistan face unannounced and prolonged load-shedding. This has severely affected the agriculture sector in the province. “We want an uninterrupted power supply for the agriculture sector,” Asghar Tareen stated.

“This is not our first protest but the incumbent government has continuously ignored us,” MPA Naseer Shahwani said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2023.