GILGIT: Political workers, including women, took to streets on Tuesday against prolonged electricity outages in Hunza.

The protesters staged a sit-in at the College Chowk in Aliabad, the district headquarters, on the Karakoram highway, for three hours. The call for the protest was given by Pakistan People`s Party, but a large number of workers of PTl and Awami Workers Party also joined the protest.

The protesters said Hunza was a tourist resort, but it was facing up to 12 hours of electricity blackouts during Ramazan.

`Unscheduled electricity loadshedding has paralysed life. Hunza is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Pakistan, but electricity crisis has badly impacted the tourism sector,` said a protester.

PPP Hunza president Zahoor Karim said machinery in the local power houses had became outdated, but the power department was reluctant to replace the obsolete machines.

He warned that if the outages were not halted, the people would stage a protest outside the Chief Minister`s House in Gilgit.

Zahoor Ellahi from AWP said the power generation in Hunza was already low, and available power had been diverted to houses of influential persons through special lines.

`While houses of poor people have had long hours of power blackouts, ruling elite and government officials enjoy undisrupted power supply in Hunza,` Mr Ellahi lamented.

PTl leader Karim Khawaja said under construction Hasanabad power house should be completed without delay and repair and maintenance of existing power houses should be carried out promptly.

The protesters disbursed after being assured by the relevant officials that they would ensure smooth electricity supply to Hunza people.-Correspondent