Police books 158 people for protesting against inflated power bills

 Pakistan’s Gojra Saddar police on Tuesday registered two cases against 158 people for protesting against inflated power bills and blocking the M-4 at two points between Gojra and Toba Tek Singh interchanges on Monday, Dawn reported.

Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.

In Gojra, the cases were registered under identical sections of 341, 506, 290, 291, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the electricity protesters.

In one FIR, the complainant of ASI Waris Ali Shami said 23 nominated and 50 unidentified persons broke the fence of the motorway and blocked traffic by holding a protest on it near Chak 311-JB.

In another FIR registered against 15 nominated and 70 unidentified persons, ASI Muhammad Nawaz claimed that the protesters blocked the traffic on the M-4 near Chak 434-JB. No arrest has been made so far, as per Dawn.

A protest was held against high tariff power bills at Kamalia on Tuesday where the citizens blocked traffic on Chichawatni-Rajana Road at Kalma Chowk. They torched bills and shouted slogans against the government.

Meanwhile, a man allegedly committed suicide at Dijkot near Faisalabad after he failed to pay his Rs 40,000 electricity bill.

The family of Muhammad Hamza (35), a resident of the Sabri Town locality of Dijkot, told police that he was already at his wits’ end due to financial constraints and the exorbitant electricity bill proved the last nail in his coffin. When he could not pay his bill, he shot himself dead. However, Dijkot police said an investigation would be carried out into the incident to confirm facts. The deceased was the father of two minor children, as per Dawn.

Meanwhile, The Express Tribune recently reported that as the protests over exorbitant electricity bills refuse to die down, the Pakistan caretaker government is considering providing a one-slab benefit to household consumers.

As the nationwide protests continue, a high-level meeting was held on Monday to address the issue. During the meeting, there were discussions over various proposals intended to reduce the distress of the power consumers, which will subsequently be presented to the federal cabinet for approval on Tuesday.

Sources said that the plans to extend instalment relief to the consumers for the bill payments were discussed, giving the citizens an option to pay their bills in more than two instalments and easing their financial burden, according to The Express Tribune report.

Similarly, another proposal that is being considered is to provide relief to the people by allowing them to pay a portion of the electricity bill during the winter months when energy consumption reduces. Furthermore, the meeting sought the Pakistan Finance Ministry's views on slashing the taxes imposed on the electricity bills.