PESHAWAR: Chief Executive Officer of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) Akhtar Hameed Khan has stated that all possible measures are being taken to ensure uninterrupted power supply to their consumers and urged them to cooperate with them in paying their bills and discouraging power theft.
Talking to members of the Katlang Quami Jirga that called on him at the Wapda House in Peshawar, he said that he and his staff had been working round the clock to bring relief to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the scorching weather.
Led by Mubarak Taj Khan Khattak, the jirga members including Saeed Khan Yusufzai, Khalid Khan Yusufzai, Faizur Rahman Yusufzai, Fazle Raziq Khan, Omar Nawab Nazim, Amjad Hussain Yusufzai, Jamal Khattak, Salim Khan, journalist Khalid Iqbal and Mushtaq Yusufzai, informed the chief executive of their problems including unannounced power outages, insufficient staff, low voltage, outdated electric cable and overburdened feeders in Katlang subdivision.
Mubarak Taj Khan said that Katlang subdivision has more than 35,000 consumers and as per rules, 24,000 consumers are required to have a separate subdivision.He said Katlang subdivision had 113 staff including linemen and assistant linemen when there were 24,000 consumers.
Now when the number of consumers has risen to more than 35,000, there are only 24 staff members to look after them.“We have hired a private person and people had to wait for two days in case of any fault or tree falls on power supply line as only a single person has to facilitate the entire population,” Mubarak Taj Khan said.
Accompanied by other senior Pesco officials including Executive Engineer Inam Akbar Khan, Executive Engineer Kashif Khan, Executive Engineer Zubair Khan, etc, the Pesco chief executive agreed with the jirga members and assured them that they would soon start practical work on the project.
Also, CEO Akhtar Hameed Khan expressed his satisfaction over the overall situation in Katlang subdivision saying they had never faced any problems in the area in recovery and losses.He issued directives for immediately reducing power load shedding on Ghazi Baba feeder from eight hours to four hours, Inzargi feeder from 10 hours to seven hours, and eight hours on Jamal Ghari feeder.
The Pesco chief assured the jirga members that overall situation in Katlang subdivision was satisfactory but there were some losses, apparently due to power theft and kunda culture, therefore will will bring some considerable relief to those feeders if losses are reduced in the near future.
Akhtar Hameed Khan agreed with the jirga members regarding staff shortage, he would soon hire around 25,00 linemen and assistant linemen from a private firm and it would at least help to resolve issues of their consumers.
They also demanded him to set up a repair workshop in Katlang so people don’t need to take their faulty transformers to Mardan. The chief executive said it was not their domain and advised them to write an application to the Board of Directors in this regard.
The jirga members thanked the chief executive and his staff for carefully listening to their complaints and bringing relief to their people.
