PESHAWAR: Residents of Doranpur village here on Monday evening closed the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway to protest prolonged power cuts in the area.

The closure of the main highway caused inconvenience to motorists, who were made to return from the Peshawar interchange due to the closure of the road. The residents were protesting against what they claimed more than 18 hours of loadshedding.

However, Peshawar Electric Supply Company, in a statement, denied the claim of 18 hours of power outage in the area.

It said that losses on the Doranpur feeder were over 67 per cent, while the area was also defaulter of power dues worth millions.

The Pesco statement said the area was subjected to 16 hours of loadshedding due to the line losses, which had gone up to 67pc from 60pc.

It said that the residents also held the Pesco teams hostage whenever they visited the village.

A motorway police official told Dawn that the M-1 was opened after negotiations. Bureau