DI Khan, Tank: Politicos, leaders take to the streets over outages

Complain about subsequent lack of water supply, disruption of work.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Local leaders and representatives of business communities held a sit in at Traffic Chowk in Tank on Monday to protest against load-shedding. The participants blocked DI Khan-South Waziristan Road for one hour, causing a traffic jam.

The demonstration started at Spin Masjid and moved towards the chowk. Local leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Awami National Party and other political groups accompanied the protesters, as did civil society groups such as the Tank Welfare Association (TWA).

Despite public complaints and protests, the government has failed to resolve power-related issues faced by the people of Tank, TWA President Pir Salim told the participants. These electricity problems cause other issues for the residents, such as disrupted water supply, added Salim.

He requested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA from Tank, Dawar Khan Kundi, to take notice of the area’s power problems.

Meanwhile, Markazi Tajaran Ittehad (MTI) held a meeting in DI Khan under the chair of President Hamid Ali to deliberate over the supply of electricity. The meeting, which was held in Saddar, Tajrath Ganj, was attended by MTI and members of civil society organisations, including Dr Abdullah Zafri, Ishfaq Chughtai, Muhammad Karim Wazir, Khalid Naz and Ahmad Ali Rajput.

Participants termed Wapda officials ‘incompetent’ because of their failure to provide the people of DI Khan with uninterrupted power. Both business communities and households suffer at the hands of prolonged load-shedding: daily outages last between 16 to 18 hours, maintained attendees.

At the meeting, it was decided MTI and other civil society organisations in DI Khan will call a strike and protest outside the Wapda office in the city if the issue of power outages is not resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th,2013.