Power protesters warn of long march to Golen Gol

BOONI: People of Upper Chitral held a protest gathering in Booni against perpetual power outages on Monday.

Earlier, public gatherings were also held in different villages of Mastuj and Mulkhow, asking the government to restore power supply but to no avail.

On Monday, MPA Molana Hidayatur Rehman told the protesters in Booni that currently the Golen Gol powerhouse was generating only seven megawatt which would be distributed among all areas of Upper and Lower Chitral equitably.

He said he should be given a couple of days to talk to relevant authorities to ensure sufficient supply of electricity to Upper Chitral.

On his assurance, the organizers called off the protest but told the participants that if power was not restored by Feb 9, they should directly gather at Charun bridge for onward march to Golen Gol for a protest sit-in.

They warned that people of Upper Chitral had become fed up with the power crisis and would not end their protest unless it was provided electricity from Golen Gol power station on a permanent basis.

According to our correspondent, out of the seven megawatt generated at Golen Gol, six MW is currently being supplied to Chitral town, Drosh and nearby areas in Lower Chitral. The remaining one MW or at times less than that is given to Upper Chitral, creating a power crisis there.