TIMERGARA, July 11: The residents of different union councils of Dir district held a protest rally at Khal on Wednesday against prolonged electricity outages and low power voltage in their areas.

Led by local elders Malik Mohammad Zeb Khan, Sikandar Akhunzada, Malik Qadar Jan and Malik Mir Alam Khan, hundreds of residents of Khal, Shal Palum and Toormang union councils participated in the rally.

The protesters chanted slogans against the government and Wapda. They also burnt tyres and blocked Timergara-Chitral Road to all kinds of traffic for some time. They alleged that people were facing a lot of problems owing to failure of government and Wapda.

The participants of the rally said that children, women and elderly people were badly affected by the prolonged power outages. They said that low voltage and prolonged power outage had disturbed their routine life. They threatened to block the road for several days if the problem was not resolved.

POLIO DRIVE: The ladies health workers in the district were asked during a meeting to ensure their full participation in the next national campaign against polio.

The meeting was held at Munda with Samar Bagh Sub-divisional Magistrate Mohammad Nawaz in the chair. EPI coordinator Dr Jehan Zeb, chairman of union council polio eradication committee Bakht Munir and Levies officials also attended the meeting.

The meeting was informed that all staffers concerned would ensure their presence in the next anti-polio campaign. The meeting decided that Levies personnel would also take part in the drive.