Hundreds of civilians in Mastung blocked the main highway in protest on Sunday against the rampant load-shedding in the city. The traffic on the Karachi-Quetta Highway was suspended for hours as cars lined up on both sides of the road.
Addressing the journalists in the Mastung Press Club, the protestors said that in these blistering summers, they only receive 4 hours of electricity every day. They said that due to the prolonged power outages, crops spanning thousands of acres are dying out of dehydration. They said the rampant load-shedding is destroying agriculture, our only source of income. This [load shedding] is our economical murder and we will not accept this tyranny”, they said.
The protestors said that the Kadkoocha area only receives four hours of electricity daily, and even that is unreliable and unfeasible for any work. They said that we will not budge until the QESCO officials take note of our grievances and assure us that they will be resolved.
Load-shedding has become a routine practice in most areas of Balochistan – hundreds of civilians have come out in Kohlu, Quetta Kalat and other areas of Balochistan to protest. The farmers are the most hard-hit as their crops depend on the water drawn by tube wells that run on electricity. Civilians in Winder blocked the road in protest against load-shedding and said that despite paying our electricity bills, we are not receiving electricity.