SWABI: The Swabi Action Committee has announced a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s Office and legal action against prolonged electricity loadshedding if the authorities fail to reduce outages within the agreed timeframe.
The announcement was made during a meeting of the committee held at Watan Pal Kor, Swabi, on Wednesday.Besides committee leaders, residents from various parts of Swabi district and Khudokhel Tehsil of Buner attended the gathering.Addressing the meeting, Swabi Action Committee spokesman Saleem Khan Advocate said that despite the presence of Tarbela Dam, one of the country’s largest hydropower projects, the people of Swabi continued to suffer from excessive loadshedding and were deprived of affordable electricity.
He said that if the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir could be provided electricity at a subsidized rate of Rs3 per unit due to the presence of Mangla Dam, the residents of Swabi also deserved similar relief.
Saleem Khan said that the administration had been clearly informed during a meeting with Assistant Commissioner Headquarters Adnan Mumtaz a day earlier that electricity outages should be reduced to six hours within seven days.
He said that if the demand was not met, the Swabi Action Committee would stage a sit-in outside the Deputy Commissioner’s Office instead of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) office.
He said the committee had made it clear to Pesco and the district administration that curbing electricity theft and recovering outstanding dues were the responsibility of the relevant authorities, which possessed all the necessary powers to take action.
The committee spokesman further said that, after consultations with its legal team, two constitutional petitions would be filed in court within the next two to three days.
One petition would challenge prolonged and unannounced loadshedding, while the second would concern the allocation of 18 megawatts of electricity generated by the Gadoon Power Station, which, he alleged, was being supplied to three industrial units.
He said that Pesco had failed to implement a written agreement limiting loadshedding to six hours. “This time, either the administration will arrest us or it will ensure the implementation of the agreement reached with the public,” he remarked.Masood Jabbar also appealed to all political parties to unite on a single platform for the protection of public rights and the resolution of issues facing the people of Swabi.
