Protest over power cuts blocks Charsadda road

CHARSADDA: Residents in Charsadda staged protests on Monday against prolonged and unscheduled electricity outages, blocking the road linking the district with the motorway and disrupting traffic.

The demonstrators were mainly from localities served by the Parang-I, Parang-II and Charsadda-I feeders. They protested frequent blackouts, low voltage and repeated tripping, which shut the Nowshera-Charsadda Motorway link road and led to long lines of vehicles, causing difficulties for commuters.

Protesters said electricity supply in many areas had remained highly irregular despite rising temperatures, affecting households, businesses and students.

Separately, leaders and workers of the Awami National Party held a demonstration outside the office of the Pesco executive engineer. ANP district general secretary Shahzaduddin, tehsil president Gohar Ayub and other speakers criticised Pesco over what they described as its failure to ease difficulties for consumers during the ongoing heatwave. They said excessive and unannounced power cuts had made daily life difficult and called for uninterrupted supply to their areas. They also warned of further agitation if the situation did not improve.

The protesters claimed that, during talks, the XEN assured them that loadshedding on the affected feeders would be reduced by two hours.

Woman dies in Tangi Gulabad

In a separate incident, a woman died in the Tangi Gulabad area on Monday after allegedly consuming toxic tea.

According to police, Saeed told them that his wife fell ill after drinking tea in which a lizard had accidentally fallen. He said she was first taken to a doctor, treated and sent home, but her condition later worsened and she was then shifted to the tehsil headquarters hospital in Tangi, where she died.

Police said an investigation was under way to determine the exact cause of death.