CM summons PESCO officials over loadshedding

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood summoned the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) officials to his office on Thursday and conveyed concern over the unscheduled and frequent power outages in the province.

A handout said he directed the PESCO officials to take immediate steps to improve the situation and give relief to the people.

He added that a way forward should be devised on an emergency basis to stop the unscheduled load-shedding of electricity.

The chief minister made it clear that unscheduled power load-shedding in urban areas due to billing issues in a few areas would not be acceptable, saying the province should get its full share of electricity in the total production.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the producer of electricity. The provincial government is providing significant funds to PESCO to improve the power transmission system in the province”, he added. The chief minister said that the provincial government has provided a huge amount of Rs4.5 billion to PESCO from the development funds of members of the provincial assembly to install the electric poles, transmission lines, transformers and other infrastructure.

However, he said that certain irrelevant and non-elected political elements were trying to get the credit for that.

He told the PESCO officials that the funds provided by the provincial government must be spent through the relevant MPAs to complete the work for which the money had been provided.