After nine months, two SDO posts remain vacant

It is illegal to appoint a superintendent or a low-rank staffer to the post.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) has yet to appoint sub-division officers (SDO) for Uthmanzai and Umerzai areas of Charsadda. The posts have been vacant for the past nine months at the behest of troubled power consumers.

“The absence of SDO also costs the Pesco because outstanding dues cannot be recovered from defaulters. The amount runs in millions of rupees in Uthmanzai and Umerzai sub-divisions,” said a Pesco official familiar with the matter. “Power theft is a serious issue in these areas and cannot be checked when the head of office if missing.”

Around 50,000 consumers are dependent on the Uthmanzai and Umerzai offices to address their electricity woes. In the absence of SDOs, other staffers also do not show up for work. And when they do, they leave soon enough to avoid any consumer.

Distressed consumers have to return home disappointed because their issues, including the installation of metres or inflated power bills, cannot be administratively processed.

Abdur Raziq, a resident of Uthmanzai, is still waiting for a power metres to be installed while Jaffar Shah from Umerzai still seeks relief from the Pesco office because he was substantially overcharged on his bill.

Uthmanzai and Umerzai sub-divisions fall under the Pesco Peshawar Circle and according to the official procedure, if any SDO posts are vacant, the superintendent engineer (SE) at Peshawar circle must notify the higher authorities. SE Mian Muharram Shah was not available for comments.

Pesco spokesperson Shaukat Afzal said that monthly review meetings take place where officials decide posting officers where vacancies exist. His comments came as a rebuttal to the current nine-month long vacancies in the sub-divisions.

Just recently a SDO post was filled after a seven-month vacancy in Charsadda Urban. Kashif Farhan was appointed to the post after months of administrative hurdles and inconvenience faced by consumers in the area.

Another Pesco official said that there seems to be a political dimension to the posts. He said that previously, Shahras Khan and Qaiser Khan served at SDOs in the two sub-divisions.

“Officers (SDOs) avoid working in Pesco offices in Umerzai and Utmanzai because of political interference in their duties from the Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party leaders,” the official said. Their influence is such that electricity equipment, including transformers are provided after approval of ANP and PPP leaders in Charsadda, the official added.

The SDO supervises field operations and is assisted by superintendents in recovering outstanding dues and cracking down on line losses through theft. The SDO also makes sure that electricity transformers function properly and are not overloaded with connections.

Arbab Altaf, a Pesco official, said that even though it is illegal to appoint a superintendent or a low-rank staffer to a SDO post, it is being done in the company.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2012.