Taking a stand : Protesters threaten to storm Sheikh Muhammadi Station
Say they are subjected to over 18-hour-long outages despite WAPDA’s assurances.
"Half of the people of the area are not paying bills because their houses don’t have meters installed despite repeated requests to the authorities,” claims Sher Muhammad. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
The Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station, which has been attacked multiple times in the past, now faces another threat – this time from enraged residents, not militants.
Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, members of the Badhaber Qaumi Committee asked the provincial government to alleviate the problems of the residents of PK-10 and PK-11 within a week or they would resort to suspending power supply from the grid station.
“In the game of dirty politics between the federal and provincial governments it is the people who are ultimately suffering,” said Muhammad Arshad, the leader of the committee.
According to Arshad, the Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station was constructed on the land belonging to residents of Badhaber and they have the right to benefit from it.
“The people will raze the gigantic electricity towers that have been constructed on our precious lands if the duration of outages is not lessened within a week,” said Arshad.
Badhaber comprises 83 villages. According to power utilities serving the area, its residents do not pay bills and use electricity by installing illegal connections, which is why their electricity remains suspended for more than 18 hours a day.
Another elder, Haji Sher Muhammad said, “We are ready to pay bills and have even asked the government to install electricity meters but they are more interested in engaging in the politics of confrontation than doing something positive for the people.”
“Half of the people of the area are not paying bills because their houses don’t have meters installed despite repeated requests to the authorities,” claimed Sher Muhammad, adding the residents would gladly pay bills if the meters are installed.
The elder claimed owners of a number of brick kilns situated in the area never pay bills because they have close ties with government officials.
According to the elders, on March 18, a meeting was held in the office of SP rural between Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) officials and elders of the area in which it was agreed that the residents will remove illegal connections and start clearing their arrears, while Wapda would install meters and reduce load-shedding to six hours a day.
However, locals claim the authorities had still not fulfilled their promise as the duration of outages remains over 18 hours long and power use remains unregulated in the absence of meters.
Meanwhile, in a separate news conference, residents of Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district protested against Wapda for disconnecting supply to 11 feeders in the tehsil.
Addressing the protesters, Zafar Ali, an elder belonging to the Qaumi Watan Party, said the residents of Shabqadar were facing severe problems due to the unavailability of electricity.
“We have paid up to Rs400,000 in arrears so far, however, the supply still remains suspended,” said Ali. He added they would hold widespread protests if the supply was not restored immediately.
In April last year, militants attacked the Sheikh Muhammadi grid station, killing two people at the spot and kidnapping nine others.
Militants fired at least 15 rockets from Sheikh Muhammadi village. They entered the building, held the staff and police guards hostage and planted several remote-controlled bombs inside the grid station.
The attack resulted in the disruption of power supply to several parts of the city and areas in the tribal belt.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2014.
The Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station, which has been attacked multiple times in the past, now faces another threat – this time from enraged residents, not militants.
Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, members of the Badhaber Qaumi Committee asked the provincial government to alleviate the problems of the residents of PK-10 and PK-11 within a week or they would resort to suspending power supply from the grid station.
“In the game of dirty politics between the federal and provincial governments it is the people who are ultimately suffering,” said Muhammad Arshad, the leader of the committee.
According to Arshad, the Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station was constructed on the land belonging to residents of Badhaber and they have the right to benefit from it.
“The people will raze the gigantic electricity towers that have been constructed on our precious lands if the duration of outages is not lessened within a week,” said Arshad.
Badhaber comprises 83 villages. According to power utilities serving the area, its residents do not pay bills and use electricity by installing illegal connections, which is why their electricity remains suspended for more than 18 hours a day.
Another elder, Haji Sher Muhammad said, “We are ready to pay bills and have even asked the government to install electricity meters but they are more interested in engaging in the politics of confrontation than doing something positive for the people.”
“Half of the people of the area are not paying bills because their houses don’t have meters installed despite repeated requests to the authorities,” claimed Sher Muhammad, adding the residents would gladly pay bills if the meters are installed.
The elder claimed owners of a number of brick kilns situated in the area never pay bills because they have close ties with government officials.
According to the elders, on March 18, a meeting was held in the office of SP rural between Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) officials and elders of the area in which it was agreed that the residents will remove illegal connections and start clearing their arrears, while Wapda would install meters and reduce load-shedding to six hours a day.
However, locals claim the authorities had still not fulfilled their promise as the duration of outages remains over 18 hours long and power use remains unregulated in the absence of meters.
Meanwhile, in a separate news conference, residents of Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda district protested against Wapda for disconnecting supply to 11 feeders in the tehsil.
Addressing the protesters, Zafar Ali, an elder belonging to the Qaumi Watan Party, said the residents of Shabqadar were facing severe problems due to the unavailability of electricity.
“We have paid up to Rs400,000 in arrears so far, however, the supply still remains suspended,” said Ali. He added they would hold widespread protests if the supply was not restored immediately.
In April last year, militants attacked the Sheikh Muhammadi grid station, killing two people at the spot and kidnapping nine others.
Militants fired at least 15 rockets from Sheikh Muhammadi village. They entered the building, held the staff and police guards hostage and planted several remote-controlled bombs inside the grid station.
The attack resulted in the disruption of power supply to several parts of the city and areas in the tribal belt.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2014.