Balach residents threaten to block road against power outages

Transformer developed fault over a month ago and is yet to be repaired

CHITRAL: Residents of Balach lower have warned that if power is not restored to their area within three days they will block the road to Chitral University as a protest.

They said the power utility company was not paying heeds to their requests to restore electricity by repairing the transformer that stopped functioning a month back.

On Friday, the affected people held a protest in Chitral town against the power breakdown and chanted slogans against PESCO, elected representatives and the district administration.

They said the 25 KV transformer was installed in the village 20 years ago when there were about two dozen houses. Now the number of houses is in hundreds and the transformer is unable to sustain the load.

They said the consumers used to pool in to get the transformer repaired but last month it developed a major fault and needed a replacement.

The protesters said the MNA, instead of getting the issue resolved, was trying to persuade the residents not to protest.

Leading the protesters, village council naib nazim Nadir Khan, Sardar Ayubi and Molana Ghulamullah said the performance of PESCO had deteriorated so much that the  consumers were left with no option but to protest.

They called upon the government to resolve the issue without any further delay otherwise the consumers would block roads in protest.

Reporter: Muhkam Uddin

Picture: Bashir Hussain Azad