MARDAN: Scores of people took to the streets against the prolonged and unscheduled power and gas outages here on Friday. The protest demonstration was staged outside the Mardan Press Club, with provincial assembly members from the ruling PTI Abdus Salam Afridi and Tariq Mehmood Aryani, former MNA Maulana Shujaul Mulk, and local elders Lakhkar Khan, Sajid Iqbal and Abdullah Abid also in attendance. The lawmakers and other speakers complained that the duration of power and gas outages had significantly increased, badly affecting life. They said thatthe power and gas crises had reduced business activities in the district. The speakers also criticised the government for hiking gas and electricity rates and said the people were struggling to pay those utility charges. They demanded of the federal government to take effective steps to reduce power and gas outages and rates. The speakers also said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shouldn’t be discriminated against when it came to power and gas supply.