HYDERABAD, Nov 2: Chairman Wapda Lt General Zulfikar Ali Khan announced a consumer-friendly incentives’ package including a one-widow operation for energy consumers in the country.

He said this while speaking to newsmen after inaugurating the 132-Nooriabad KV Grid Station, 80 kms from here, on Friday.

He promised to introduce improvement-related measures so that this national institution should not need the crutches of the army in future.

He claimed that the package would prove beneficial for Wapda employees as well provided they showed significant improvement in their way of working.

He said that his management was committed to solving people’s problems especially in the far-flung areas of Sindh such as Sukkur, Dadu, Khairpur, etc.

Mr Khan claimed that establishment of the grid station would be a support for the industrial sector because it would help improve the working of industries in Nooriabad — one of the biggest industrial estates of the country.

He said that he had received complaints about disturbance and suspension in the power supply, and added that the Wapda management was trying to improve the power supply before the advent of Ramazan which was why feeders had been switched off for maintenance and repairs in order to improve their working.

He claimed that with the onset of winter, the areas of the coastal belt started posing serious problems to the power supply as fog, coupled with dust, badly affected the working of feeders and transformers, and added that it was in this backdrop that the maintenance was continuing in almost all the feeders with the result that the power supply was suspended.

The chairman, Wapda, pointed out that his management had discussed issues concerning the energy consumers and the officials working in the institution and after giving serious thought to these problems some important initiatives were being taken to help bring a marked change in the working of Wapda and its distribution companies.

Spelling out these measures, Mr Khan stressed that it had been decided that the number of sub-divisions in each distribution company should be increased keeping in view the load of consumers in their respective jurisdictions.

He said that with the increase in the number of sub-divisions the number of power consumers would automatically decrease as a result of which sub-divisional officers including SDOs, line superintendents, and meter readers would be able to deal with a fewer number of consumers and concentrate on their jobs more efficiently.

“It is the part of our concerted efforts that a sub-division which is currently dealing with 16,000 to 24,000 consumers should deal with 12,000 to 15,000 consumers in urban areas,” the chairman said adding that in rural areas the number of consumers would be brought down from 18,000 to 12,000.

He said that the sub-divisions whose losses were 30 per cent against the total loss of the company’s 20 per cent would be bifurcated.

He further said that if any sub-division was able to show 10 per cent more recovery against the expected target then 15 per cent of this amount would be distributed among the staff of the sub-division.