Power bill strike shuts markets

Citizens march through closed business centres in Okara, DG Khan

DERA GHAZI KHAN/ OKARA:

Complete shutter-down strike was observed in Okara and Dera Ghazi Khan on Thursday on the call of the Anjuman-e-Tajiran Pakistan in protest against exorbitant electricity bills.

Apart from traders, members of the civil society, students and other citizens also participated in a protest rally in Okara. The protesters set fire to the monthly bills and burnt tires.

Protest marches were also organised in the three tehsils of Okara district, where anti-government slogans were raised.

Addressing the rally, Anjuman Tajiran president Sheikh Riaz Anwar called upon traders and other people all over Pakistan to protest against the government’s cruel taxes, levies in electricity bills and rising inflation. He said the government should urgently offer relief to the citizens.

He warned that the protest would be expanded if the government would not accept the demands of the protesters regarding removal of the taxes included in electricity bills. The traders’ leader said a call for a wheel-jam strike across the country could also be given.

He said the increase in electricity tariff amidst ongoing inflation had badly affected the common people.

He said that as the prices of essential commodities were increasing every day, the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, gas and electricity in addition to excessive taxes and the increased prices of life-saving medicines were intolerable.

The traders’ leader asked what options except extreme measures had been left for a poor man barely able to feed his children if he had to pay the electricity bill of thousands of rupees.

He said the poor were suffering to pay for the luxuries of the rulers of the country.

They are paying the bills by selling household goods and jewellery, while those who do not have anything to sell are helpless.

He appealed to those running the country to show mercy to the poor and accept their right to live.

He said relief should be given by withdrawing taxes.

He said the government itself would be to blame for the intensification of the protest if the plight of the electricity consumers was not addressed.

Meanwhile, a massive protest march was organised in Dera Ghazi Khan by the Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajiran against the surge in electricity bills, escalating fuel prices and unjustified taxes collected from commercial sectors.

All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran chairman Khawaja Muhammad Shafiq, president Ajmal Baloch and South Punjab president Chaudhry Tariq Karim led the protest march and addressed a large number of participants.

The protesters staged rallies amidst a shutdown at Ghalla Mandi, Samina Chowk, Rani Bazaar and Quaid-i-Azam Road.

During these protests, symbolic acts such as burning electricity bills were performed, with participants ranging from representatives of the chamber of commerce to citizens.

The major business centres in DG Khan, including Saddar Bazaar, Ghanta Ghar Bazaar, Railway Road, Golai Committee, Sarafa Bazaar, Rani Bazaar, Faridi Bazaar, Liaquat Bazaar and mobile phone outlets remained shut as part of a collective outcry against the relentless inflation and the rising costs of medicines, petroleum, gas and electricity.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2023.