Drive against electricity theft to be accelerated in KP

PESHAWAR: A high-level meeting on Friday vowed to accelerate drive against electricity theft, provision of meters, recovery of arrears and upgrading of the system in the province.

Federal Minister for Power Umar Ayub Khan and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan presided over an important meeting, which was held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, said a handout. The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) was directed to present a complete feeder-wise plan and systematic mechanism including the complete breakup with timelines within a week.

The Pesco was also directed to start the campaign in consultation with all the stakeholders including elected public representatives of concerned areas.

Provincial Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Minister for Information Shaukat Yousafzai, Minister for Environment Ishtiaq Urmar, Advisor to Chief Minister on Energy Himayatullah Khan, MNAs and MPAs of Peshawar, Spokesman of Provincial government Ajmal Khan Wazir, Chief Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, IGP Salahuddin Mahsud, Pesco Chief Amjad Khan and other authorities concerned attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to facilitate and give relief to the consumers paying their legitimate bills and helping out the campaign. The chief minister assured to help out the Pesco to make the anti-theft campaign a success story. “We have to recover arrears and reduce line losses once for all. This was a national issue requiring our collective efforts at all levels,” he added.

The meeting underlined the need to put special focus on Peshawar, Bannu and Khyber circles in this regard because the rate of arrears and Kunda culture is high in these circles than that of other circles of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Different issues linked to electricity including Kunda culture, non-availability of meters, issuance of electricity bills without proper reading, heavy load-shedding, non-availability of transformers, corrupt activities in Pesco and other issues came under discussion in the meeting.

The meeting observed that the weak and inefficient system of Pesco was the basic problem that needed to be improved on a priority basis. The meeting agreed that Pesco should have own system of accountability so that black sheep inside the department should be kicked out and honest and committed people brought in.