Weary of fallout: PESCO prepares to cut power to 11 feeders

CM warns Abid Sher Ali not to take undue advantage of being a relative of the PM.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) is preparing to follow through on State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali’s directives to cut power supply to specific electricity feeders in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The decision was announced by the minister at a news conference on Tuesday at Wapda House where he informed that due to poor recovery and increasing line losses, Pesco has planned to suspend electricity supply to 11 feeders in seven districts of K-P.

It was revealed that the company has been facing 97% line losses from 11 power feeders in Peshawar, Shangla, Tank, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan and Karak.

Ali had said the ministry is taking action against power theft across the board without any discrimination and is not targeting any single province. He had also urged provincial ministers to abstain from pointing fingers at others and asked them to go to their home constituencies and remove the illegal power connections.

In response to Ali’s statements, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said at a public meeting in Nowshera on Friday that “The state minister should watch what he says about K-P’s people and should not take undue advantage of being a relative of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif”.

Khattak said instead of blaming Pukhtuns of power theft, the minister should focus on clearing Wapda of corrupt elements, informed an official handout.

According to Pesco officials, senior officers of the company have been conveyed necessary instructions to suspend power to the 11 feeders due to excessive power theft and losses.

“It is feared that the cutting of power supply would lead to another round of altercations between the province and the centre,” an official said.

Not the best of friends

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government has had a shaky relationship with Pesco ever since it took the reins of the province.

In a similar conference in January, Ali accused certain PTI lawmakers of being involved in power theft, adding that 90% of electricity consumers in their constituencies did not pay their bills. The remarks had caused uproar in the K-P Assembly and led to several controversial counter accusations.

Last week, PTI MPA Fazal Elahi locked horns with the company regarding the supply of electricity connections in his constituency.

The MPA vowed not to allow any Pesco officials to enter his constituency until the company fulfils its promise of installing meters, while Pesco claims the MPA and his guards attacked its officials when they were doing routine work in the area.

Earlier this year, provincial minister Shah Farman and Pesco chief Tariq Sadozai publicly criticised each other after Farman ‘raided’ houses of Pesco officials, including Sadozai’s, and accused them of power theft. Later, the company responded by sending a defamation notice of Rs500 million to Farman for damaging Sadozai’s reputation.

Following that incident, Pesco snipped off Badhaber and Mariyamzai’s power supply. Both areas lie within the minister for information’s constituency, PK-10, Peshawar. According to a Badhaber sub-division officer, arrears of Rs27.93 million had stacked up against consumers connected to the 11 kilo volt feeders, prompting the company action in Farman’s constituency.

When contacted regarding the recent plan to cut supply to 11 feeders, Pesco spokesperson Shaukat Afzal said, “The plan to cut power is under process and no disconnection has been made yet.” He refused to provide any details on the proposed cut.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2014.