PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday threatened the torching of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company headquarters in Peshawar over the excessive loadshedding in the province.

“I warn the Pesco to do justice to us and make efforts to get our province’s full share of electricity to end unscheduled power outages within a week otherwise lawmakers of both the opposition and treasury benches will not only besiege Pesco headquarters in Peshawar but put the offices of the Pesco chief executive on fire as well,” he told the provincial assembly here after the passage of the budget for financial year 2015-16.

The house passed the Rs487.8 billion budget for the next fiscal smoothly in the absence of major opposition parties, which have boycotted the session over the alleged rigging and mismanagement in the May 30 local body elections.

The chief minister said the prolonged, unscheduled power outages had frustrated the people in the province so much that they attacked Pesco installations and blocked roads. He said the Pesco chief executive’s failure to get the province’s due share of electricity from the national grid increased loadshedding duration during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Khattak said the national grid gave the province 400-500MW less electricity than the due share and that denied share was used by Punjab and other parts of the country.

Earlier, Qaumi Watan Party lawmaker Bakht Baidar Khan criticised the provincial government for rejecting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s offer to launch a metro bus service in Peshawar.

“Why the offer was not accepted if the prime minister is going to launch metro bus service in Karachi and Multan after Islamabad and Rawalpindi,” he said.

Sets one-week deadline; PA passes budget with minor changes

Rejecting the criticism, the chief minister said the prime minister’s offer was unfeasible and that instead of making such offers, the centre should lease out to the province the surplus Pakistan Railways land lying alongside the railway track from Chamkani to Hayatabad for the Peshawar mass transit transport service.

He ruled out the possibility to metro bus project for Peshawar saying his government couldn’t afford the project’s cost of over Rs45 billion and its annual recurring cost of Rs4-Rs5 billion.

Khattak said Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan districts could be connected by a fast track railway system using the existing redundant railway track.

He said a survey for the feasibility of the proposed project would begin soon.

The chief minister said the proposed fast track rail service was the best option available to provide rapid and economical travel services to the commuters of the four districts. He said if the federal government agreed, his government was ready to execute the proposed project from own resources.

Khattak said his government had prepared the feasibility report of 25 kilometers Chamkani-Hayatabad mass transit project, which would cost from Rs10 to Rs12 billion.

He said the project would improve transport facilities between Chamkani and Hayatabad.

Finance minister Muzaffar Said failed to respond to the queries of the members of the opposition party, QWP.

The relevant officials sitting in the officers gallery sent him written replies to the queries and he read them out one by one to the amusement of lawmakers, including ministers, who kept laughing at him.

The minister got baffled when Speaker Asad Qaisar asked him to avoid reading out written replies to the queries.

The house also passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Bill 2015 with minor amendments introduced by QWP members.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2015

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