Residents of Reshun in Chitral protest power breakdown since July 2015

Hundreds of people of Reshun, Torkho, Mulko and suburban areas protested against the KP government for not repairing the damaged power house at Reshun in Chitral, resulting in no electricity for the residents since July 2015.

A protest cum public meeting was held at Reshun under the chair of former MPA Abdul Rehman which was also attended by the representatives of different political and religious parties.

They also staged a sit in against the apathy of the provincial government and Pakhtunkhwa Hydro Development Organization (PHYDO) department who badly failed to reconstruct the damaged power house at Reshun.

Addressing the protestors, they said that the power house was constructed in the 80’s as a reward for eradication of hashish and opium from the area. People of the area were cultivating narcotics and this power house was built to stop narcotics supply in the area. This power house was collecting revenue of Rs 5 million in terms of monthly utility bills from its consumers.

They said that due to the damage to this power house, not only people of the area are suffering for the last 10 months, but the provincial government also suffered a loss of Rs 40 million. The angry protesters said that they were promised by different leaders and authorities for the repair of the power house, but they failed to honour their commitments.

The protestors further said that if the government did not start work on the repair and maintenance of the power house, they will come on roads once again and will start collecting donations to repair this power house on their own with financial aids from the general public.

Those who spoke on the occasion were Parvez Lal presidents of All Nazimeen sub Division Mastuj, Akhunzada Rahmatullah, Rehmat Ghazi, Sardar Hussain, Abdul Wali Khan, Mulvi Abdul Rehman, Shahzada Khalid Parvez, Khwaja Nizamuddin and others. Later they dispersed peacefully.