Residents of Chilas in Gilgit Baltistan block roads in protest against severe load-shedding

These residents from the Chilas Shaheen Colony area blocked the roads to make their voices heard by the local administration.

The residents have complained that they have not received electricity for the last seven days.

On Friday, citizens of Chilas in Gilgit Baltistan staged a protest, expressing anger over severe load shedding in the area. Residents from the Chilas Shaheen Colony took to the streets, blocking roads to draw attention from the local administration, citing a week-long absence of electricity supply.

Additionally, they have also mentioned that, because of the administration's ignorance dirty and contaminated water is getting mixed with the drinking and household water supply of the area, raising the number of water-related ailments amongst locals. The people now demand that the responsible authority must come to the area and take responsibility for the ignorance and answer to their grievances.

A local leader during the protests stated "We have been complaining for a long time now. Hence, we will not end the protest until the local engineer or any other authority does not answer our calls. We have been continuously contacting the public representatives, to further strengthen our protest if our demands are not met."

Load shedding has been a serious concern for the general public in Gilgit Baltistan. Previously, the agitation of the people recently turned into a massive protest, resulting in scores of women and children organising a rally to express their anger.

At that time participants in the rally said that they face power outages of around 22 hours daily, and the authorities are not doing their part to resolve their issues.

The enraged protesters chanted slogans against the government and lamented that bureaucrats and VIPs are, however, provided uninterrupted electricity through special power lines. The women participants in the rally mentioned that they cannot complete household chores in the absence of electricity, and the children are also unable to study.

Noor Bano, a local resident from GB, stated, "We had to come out on the roads to protest after being helpless. The system of electricity is really bad here. We are not getting electricity, it has only been there for about an hour and a half. In that short period, we can neither iron clothes, cook food, nor fill water (with a motor). Already, everything is frozen (due to the cold weather). We are forced to protest on the roads."

Another local resident, Sharleen Fatimah, said, "The electricity is there around 7 am and is there until around 8 am. During this short time, in Gilgit city, everything is frozen-snow is present on machines, and we cannot switch on those water machines (motors). The biggest issue is that we do not have water. The second one is that our children go to school and their uniform is not ironed, and the teachers complain." (ANI)