Manan Mandokhail:
QUETTA: The Zamindar Action Committee (ZAC) blocked the road outside the Balochistan Assembly against unannounced and prolonged load shedding in the province. The growers’ community has been protesting outside the Balochistan Assembly for the last two days to mount pressure on the government for acceptance of their demands.
“Our protest will continue until the provision of proper power supply,” Malik Naseer Shahwani, the central leader of the ZAC and the former member provincial assembly from the Balochistan National Party (Mengal) said. He said the Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) has failed to provide power supply to growers and domestic consumers across Balochistan.
The ZAC claimed power outages in crop seasons have caused billions of rupees in financial losses to the growers’ community in Balochistan. “QESCO is responsible for billions of losses to growers,” Haji Abdul Rehman Bazai, another leader of the ZAC claimed. The protesters were also carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the QESCO and the government. They were also chanting full-throated slogans against the government for what they claimed was its failure to address their issues.
The growers have blocked the main road outside the Balochistan Assembly in support of their demands. The growers have announced a protest for an indefinite period against the QESCO and the Balochistan government.
The growers’ leaders also demanded the federal and provincial governments to implement their promise of shifting tube wells to solar to address the load shedding issue once and for all. “Government should fulfill its promise of shifting our tube wells to the solar system,” Abdul Qahar Agha, another growers’ leader demanded.
So far, none from the Balochistan government has approached the protesting growers to end their protest outside the provincial assembly. The growers have also threatened to intensify their protest if the government fails to address their issues immediately. “We will expand our protest to the entire province,” Malik Naseer Shahwani announced.
