Parwan rally seeks power connections

CHARIKAR (Pajhwok): Hundreds of people on Saturday staged a protest demonstration in the Jabalus Seraj district of central Parwan province, demanding electricity connections from a local grid station.

The protestors blocked the main highway leading to the central capital Kabul for three hours from 9am till 12pm.  

The 2,500 kilowatts grid has recently been reconstructed at a cost of $2.8 million.

Baryalai, one of the protestors, told Pajhwok Afghan News the gird’s reconstruction that started three years back had been completed three months ago but local people remained deprived of electricity.

He said the grid officials were yet to distribute connections among locals and asked the government to provide electricity to the people of Jabalus Seraj.

Ghulam Muhammad, a protestor, said the rehabilitated grid station had been delivering electricity on a trial basis for few months but locals did not know how gird stations worked.  

Electricity Department head Muhammad Tahir Himmat told Pajhwok Afghan News the grid had developed a technical fault and an American organization had assured fixing it.

Local people had previously protested against not extending them power connections in May, when Himmat promised all cement factories in the area would be extended electricity.

The cement factories, which have stopped manufacturing cement due to lack of electricity over the past few years, are expected to resume production by Friday.

Himmat said a power sub-station was being constructed in the district to extend electricity from Uzbekistan to local residents.

Work on the station would be completed by December and residents would find access to electricity by then.

The Jabalus Seraj grid station has been built about hundred years ago, supplying electricity mainly to cement and textile factories.

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