Residents threaten to cut Khan Khwar Dam’s supply line to the entire country. PHOTO: FILE
More than a thousand people from Shangla’s Besham tehsil on Thursday observed a shutter-down strike over Khan Khwar Dam failing to provide residents with electricity.
Led by engineer Hamid Iqbal, Sherinzada and other elders of the area, people from Konshi, Shang, Karora, Ranyal and Kerai gathered at Besham city and marched towards the main square. All hotels and petrol pumps remained closed as a result.
Addressing the crowd, Hamid Iqbal said electricity produced in Shangla over the past few years was supplied to other parts of the country while locals were being deprived.
Lashing out at the federal government, Iqbal said factories, dams, water mills and other businesses in the district are closed due to prolonged power outages. “If the federal government does not provide us with power, then it should at least pay residents for utilising the area’s resources,” he added.
Protesters chanted slogans against the federal government and said if they were not provided their share of electricity, they would cut the dam’s supply to the entire country. Demonstrators expressed their disappointment and anger towards Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) MPAs from the district and also chanted slogans against them, saying elected members and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Amir Muqam were not doing anything for their constituents.
People also denounced the jirga organised to solve the issue of the dam, and said if they couldn’t come up with a solution within one month, residents will forcefully take over the 70MW power facility.
Protesters threatened that if their issues weren’t addressed by the government, they will take the matter into their own hands.
The event was peaceful and the crowd dispersed by midday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2014.
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