Protesters led by a PTI provincial lawmaker ended a protest exterior Peshawar’s Rehman Baba Grid Station on Saturday after receiving assurances from the utility firm that it will cut back extended energy cuts.
The PTI MPA, Fazl Elahi, introduced the tip of the rally, after negotiations between the demonstrators, Assistant Commissioner Haroon Saleem and govt engineer Alam Zeb proved profitable.
The protesters have been assured that loadshedding wouldn’t exceed 10 hours and that feeders within the space can be provided with satisfactory energy. Earlier, they’d threatened to enter the grid station and restore energy themselves.
In keeping with DawnNewsTV, police arrived on the scene to attempt to disperse the protesters, who threatened to take management of the station and restore the ability themselves if the loadshedding continued.
Fazl Elahi mentioned, “We are going to proceed to protest exterior the grid station except the ability is restored.” He additional warned that the demonstrators would take management of the grid station if their calls for weren’t met.
“If the matter is just not resolved right here, we’ll shut down Sheikh Muhammadi Grid station,” he threatened. “We are going to shut the ability there and minimize off the electrical energy provide to the entire space.” The MPA mentioned that the protesters are “demanding their rights” and urged PTI employees to “drag their MPA in entrance of grid stations”.
As soon as the negotiations have been finalised, Fazl introduced the tip of the rally and protesters dispersed. Whereas negotiating with Peshawar Electrical Provide Firm (Pesco) officers, Fazl promised to take motion in opposition to energy theft. “We are going to eradicate energy theft from the neighbourhood,” he vowed.
In September final yr, ministers of the caretaker authorities, whereas saying a crackdown in opposition to electrical energy theft, revealed that the losses of energy distribution firms (Discos) in Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have been as excessive as 60pc.
Fazl additionally mentioned that he stands with the Water and Energy Growth Authority (Wapda), whom he mentioned is “short-staffed proper now”.