Powered up: Alliance in G-B gives seven-day ultimatum to end outages

Will paralyse region if crisis not resolved, warns Awami Action Committee chairman.

GILGIT:

Awami Action Committee (AAC), an alliance of 23 parties in Gilgit-Baltistan, has given the government a seven-day ultimatum to resolve G-B’s power crisis.

“If the government turns a blind eye to our demand, we will paralyse life in the entire region,” warned AAC Chairman Advocate Ehsan Ali while speaking to The Express Tribune on Monday. “Our natural resources remain untapped while we suffer due to the government’s inefficiency,” he said. G-B alone can produce 60,000 megawatts of electricity through its renewable energy resources, he added.

The AAC announced the ultimatum during a rally held on Sunday. Protesters marched from Ghari Bagh to Airport Chowk.

Formed last year to press the government to lower wheat prices, the alliance of 23 religious and nationalist parties has come back to life. In April 2014, the AAC forced the government into a Rs6 reduction in the price of one kilogramme of wheat.

Around 20 to 22 hours of load-shedding is a norm in Gilgit, the headquarters of G-B. The crisis worsens from November to April every year. According to a Public Works department official, G-B’s power requirement is 40 megawatts while only 10 megawatts are generated at Naltar and Kargah power stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.