09 March 2005	Wednesday	27 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, March 8: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) will instal eight large towers of 133-kv in Lowari Top to avoid disruption of power supply to Chitral valley.

"We have paid five million rupees to the authorities concerned for the plan to resolve the issue of power disruption", said Brig Tahir Saeed Malik, chief executive of Pesco. It became necessary to instal the towers after snowfall had buried the poles and conductors of Wapda in Lowari, rendering the Dir-Drosh transmission line ineffective.

"The large towers would help Pesco overcome this problem permanently as they would neither be buried under snow nor transmission line break down even during winter," said the Pesco chief executive, while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.

Power supply from the national grid to the area remained suspended for about a month after heavy snowfall. Brig Malik said that power supply to Chitral from the national grid was restored a week ago after Pesco staff repaired the Dir-Drosh transmission line.

On this occasion, he appreciated his company's staff for ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the Hazara and Malakand regions of the province during the spell of heavy snowfall which broke down communication and road network in several parts of the province.

Talking about Pesco's drive to recover over Rs1.2 billion arrears from its public sector consumers belonging to the federal and provincial government, the Pesco chief said that power supply to the defaulting public sector consumers would be disconnected if they did not clear their dues by March 31.

"We are a commercial entity and could not supply power without getting anything from our consumers," said Brig Malik. "The company has recovered about Rs300 million from the defaulters in the public sector since the campaign was launched," he said.