As the mercury rose throughout Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, protests over incessant power outages turned into violent with the Grand Trunk road as clashes reported between government authorities and angry mobs. Protesters forcibly closed down the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway in Tarujaba area while some others from nearby villages rooted out plantations and threw them at the passing vehicles, causing the closure of main highway for almost all sorts of traffic.
Meanwhile, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) office also came under attack when charged protesters vandalised its office building, broke furniture and tore up official documents. Wapda officials had to take refuge on the roof of the office building as they watched protestors ripping-off the main gate which was initially closed down to keep the protesters out. "The supply of electricity is restored just for five minutes every 24 hours," claimed one of the protesters.
However, officials said the areas facing massive load-shedding are those where people are either not paying their bills or where the power utility company is facing severe line loses because of illegal connections. Similar protests were reported across the province with the police busy negotiating with protesters in several areas amid reports of oil tankers being stopped to impede the oil supply to the province.
Earlier, in Swabi, protestors burnt down the Wapda's sub-divisional office and the office of an additional civil judge. Last month, dozens of people were injured and arrested as violent protests over unscheduled blackouts were carried out across KP. At least 16 protesters were injured and 54 others were put behind bars, including four under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Meanwhile, Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali on Monday revealed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is not co-operating in eradicating power theft from the province. While condemning the brutal attack on Peshawar Electric Supply Power (PESCO) in Peshawar, Abid Sher stated that 193 out of 650 PESCO feeders are exempted from power outages and that more than 80 percent line losses are in the province. This, he stated while held a meeting with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak here on Monday. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Amjad Khan, Additional Chief Secretary, Dr Uwais Ahmad Agha, Pesco Chief, and other high officials from both sides. The Minister said that the provincial government is fully aware of all the facts and figures regarding prolonged electricity cut. He added that the Chief Minister of KP Pervez Khattak decides schedule for load management in PESCO whereas federation is giving electricity to KP more than the decided quota.
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