Islamabad: Hundreds of infuriated protesters walked down the streets of Pakistan and blocked the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway (M-1) for hours demonstrating against the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) over inflated electricity bills, local media reported on Friday.
The charged protesters led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) local leader Changaiz Khan from Hazro town in Punjab Province and adjoining areas reached the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway (M-1) near Chach interchange and put traffic out of gear for hours, the Dawn reported. The enraged protestors were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the power utility company and the government.
Shouting slogans against the IESCO, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the government for multiplying electricity tariffs and imposing taxes on consumers, the protesters also burnt their electricity bills and urged the government to direct the power utility company to immediately waive fuel price adjustment.
While addressing the protesters, PTI local leader Changaiz Khan said that imposing taxes during this time was cruel and the government must withdraw them.
“All Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties were claiming that they not only had a strategy to control inflation but also had a capable team to pull out the country from economic turmoil. Almost four months have passed but they only increased tariffs and caused inflation,” he added.
Meanwhile, the protesters pledged not to deposit payments until the immediate withdrawal of the FPA and other taxes and the issuance of new bills to them by the power distribution companies, the Dawn reported.
On Thursday, protestors stormed the office of K-electric in Korangi district and held demonstrations in different areas of Karachi.
Several protestors stormed different localities of Karachi and also vandalized and destroyed furniture of the K-Electric office, according to Express Tribune.
Claiming that high taxes on energy bills were beyond affordability, the enraged protestors blocked the road by putting up barriers and burning tyres.
Apparently, the over-billing of the electricity bills and long load-sheddings have infuriated citizens forcing them to take to the streets in different areas of the city. For a long period, the protestors have been demonstrating continuously in different parts of the country to condemn the inflation in energy bills.
Last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the federal government was making all-out efforts to revive the stalled power plants to put an end to the huge energy crisis faced by the country, reported Geo News.
Pakistan already has two long-term supply deals with Qatar — the first signed in 2016 for five cargoes a month, and the second in 2021, under which Pakistan currently gets three monthly shipments but the nation is currently under a massive grip of widespread power outrages as procurement of the chilled fuel remains unreliable and expensive due to its increased reliance on LNG for electricity generation.
The fast depletion of the foreign exchange reserves was the result of Pakistan’s inflation of twin deficits and a lack of foreign currency inflows.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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