Ludhiana, Sept. 15 -- Prolonged power outages brought industrialists and farmers onto the streets in Ludhiana on Monday, with industrial units protesting outages up to 14 hours and farmers alleging they were receiving only two to two-and-a-half hours of electricity against the promised eight-hour supply. Industrialists blocked NH-5 at Samrala Chowk for nearly two hours, while farmers staged a separate protest for nearly two hours outside the PSPCL Central Zone chief engineer's office over uninterrupted supply.

Around 1,500 people participated in the protest, with representatives of 8-10 industrial associations raising slogans against the Punjab government and PSPCL. The protesters alleged that prolonged power cuts were severely affecting...