Heaps of garbage block main entrance at WAPDA office. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The protest was led by Provincial Assembly Member Syed Abdul Aleem Shah. Power supply to 42 TMA water schemes was restored by MEPCO late on Thursday after three days.
The protesters marched from Mashraf Plant Chowk to the MEPCO office. They beat drums and chanted slogans against MEPCO authorities and the federal minister of water and power.
They also dumped several truckloads of garbage at the gate of the MEPCO office and blocked it. Police present at the scene did not intervene. The office was closed due to the May 1 public holiday.
Addressing the protesters, Shah and former councillor Habibur Rehman Leghari said the WAPDA should be privatised immediately. They said WAPDA officials were corrupt and apathetic. They said they should be held accountable for overbilling and harassing citizens.
Shah said the chief secretary had ordered restoration of power on the instructions of the chief minister. “If power to water schemes is disconnected again, we will launch a bigger protest,” he said.
The protesters chanted slogans for the chief minister and the prime minister and urged them to remove the federal minister of water and power.
Talking to newsmen, MEPCO SE Nasir Rasheed said police had been asked to register a case against 300 people for attacking the MEPCO Complex and creating a law and order situation.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2015.
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