A couple of hundred people, including local farmers, lawyers and politicians, took out a tractor-trolley rally against the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) for overcharging them in electricity bills.
Residents of surrounding villages, including Bedian Kalan, Sandha, Burg Kalan and Hussain Khanwala, came out on tractor-trolleys and tried to reach the local WAPDA office. A police contingent stopped the tractors’ rally at Kuchehry Chowk, where they kept the main Ferozepur Road blocked for over two hours.
Farmers’ Association President Muzaffar, Kasur Bar President Sharif, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Mubashar Nawaz and Chaudhry Imtaz addressed the participants of the rally.
They said the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) had been sending excessive electricity bills to local farms. They said the bills carried additional reading for the next two years due to the negligence of meter readers, and the involvement of some LESCO officials in power pilferages. They showed the copies of electricity bills that charged a payable amount of Rs 394,771 and Rs 394,196 on tubewell connections of load 5.
The Kasur Bar secretary complained about the behaviour of Kasur Police and its reluctance to register a case against LESCO officials for thrashing the farmers who visited LESCO office to get their electricity bills corrected. District Police Officer (DPO) Khurrram Ali Shah assured the protesters of disposing of a case registered against farmers and a lawyer. He also asked them to hold a meeting with the XEN and the SDO – both senior WAPDA officials – and get the issue of over billing resolved. The tractor-trolley rally dispersed peaceful afterwards.