MIANWALI: The residents of Mianwali are facing double trouble, thanks to unscheduled loadshedding as well as the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company’s (Fesco) ineffective complaint mechanism.

Fesco’s local office is without a regular executive engineer and the Khushab EXEN is looking after it on a dual charge basis. The officer normally does not visit Mianwali office and people’s complaints are allegedly being ignored by sub-divisional officers and other staff.

A source told Dawn that officials had failed to address the complaints of residents as only three of the 28 linemen were performing their duties while others were drawing salaries and allowances without doing field work.

Only three linemen are doing their job

Recently, the power crisis worsened at Chidroo village and people faced unscheduled outages for weeks together. As their repeated complaints to the Fesco authorities did not work, they took to the street and demonstrated outside the EXEN’s office after which a new transformer was installed in their area.

Asked about the situation and people’s allegations, Urban Mianwali SDO Bin Yamin first tried to parry the question and then claimed that senior officers were responsible for appointing linemen. Fesco SE Sargodha Shafique Ahmed said he had no role in appointment of linemen. He said he would inquire into the issue and take necessary action.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2016