Agriculture: Farmers protest against inflated power bills

Block road for more than two hours.

BAHAWALPUR:

Dozens of farmers staged a protest demonstration against the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for sending inflated power bills.

The protesters blocked Sama Satta Road and burned their electricity bills during the demonstration.

The protesters, belonging to Fatowali village, chanted slogans against the government for what they said were its anti-people policies.

They said some of them had received power bills of more than a hundred thousand rupees just for the electricity they used to run a tube-well to irrigate their fields. Farmer Abdul Aleem said the bills were unjustified considering power outages in the village had now increased to up to 20 hours. He said he was considering abandoning agriculture and migrating to the city to take up manual labour. Haji Munir said he was also considering selling his land because of the increased cost of farming. The protesters stayed at the road for up to two hours, blocking traffic and causing inconvenience to them. The protesters referred to Indian policies towards their agriculture sector and said that the government should adopt similar pro-farmer policies.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2012.