Unpaid bills: Farmers’ power supply restored

Farmers Association says MEPCO officials demanded bribes, threatened to disconnect power.

MULTAN:

Some farmers in Shujabad were accused of beating up Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) officials on Saturday.

Shujabad MEPCO sub-divisional officer (SDO) Rehan Chohan and Sikandarabad SDO Mumtaz Solangi, in a crackdown against defaulters, led a raid at Shehzad Square in Mitto village. SDO Chohan ordered staff to disconnect the power supply.

A MEPCO official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the farmers attacked them when they tried to disconnect the transformer.

He said six of the farmers were defaulters and had not paid over Rs1 million each in bills.



He said that the Punjab Farmers Association general secretary Sajid Bodla had led the farmers. He said the MEPCO team took shelter in a nearby mosque and informed media as farmers surrounded the mosque.

Saddar SHO Rao Saleem and reporters arrived at the scene and escorted the MEPCO officials out.

PFA general secretary Sajid Bodla said they had not beaten anyone. He said the MEPCO officials were asking for bribes and threatening to disconnect their connections. “They are overcharging us…we will not pay any extra taxes in the bills,” he said.

The situation was defused when MEPCO personnel restored the electricity supply to the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2012.