Black-clothed stir highlights Mohali's long dark hours

MOHALI: A two-hour, black-clothed protest over long power cuts and its effect on the water situation on Wednesday, led to disruption of traffic on the stretch from phase III-B2 to phase XI road for around 30 minutes as agitators burnt an effigy of the state government.
Congress leaders Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, former minister Jagmohan Singh Kang and Deepinder Singh Dhillon, besides representatives of residents welfare association, an ex-servicemen body and Mohali Chamber of Commerce and Industries addressed the gathering at Dusshera ground in the morning.
Using this opportunity to attack the SAD government, district Congress president Balbir Singh Sidhu said
the chief minister and deputy chief minister should resign if they unable to ensure regular power and water supply to people. The grim power and water situation is hitting residents hard and the 12-hour outages are causing losses to industrial and agriculture sectors, with many units on the verge of closure, Sidhu added.
Mohali Citizen Council, Phase XI, president, Sohan Singh, said Mohali is dubbed as ���the IT city���, but facilities have failed to match the tall claims. Lt Col (retd) S S Sohi alleged that state government has failed to provide basic amenities like water and power to people and unscheduled cuts have made life miserable.
Mohali Chamber of Industries and Commerce president Joginder Singh Slaich and its general secretary Swaran Singh said wrong policies of the state government have pushed industries to the brink.