LANDI KOTAL, May 17: Owners of cottage and small industries in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency will install electricity meters at their units provided that the federal government announce a special package for tribal areas.

At a meeting of the Bara Union of Cottage and Small Industries held in Alamgudar, Bara, newly-formed union’s President Iftikhar Afridi said they were ready to install power meters if the government announced a relief package for the region.

He demanded that all banks be directed to extend loans to industrial units in Fata on easy terms, keeping in view backwardness of the area.

The president accused the political administration of black mailing the small industries’ owners and alleged that officials of the administration were extorting money from them in the name of electricity bills.

The matter, he said, would be taken up with the Pesco chief as the political administration was also harassing the owners of small units, which had resulted in the closure of many units.

Wapda chief in a recent statement had accused the political administrations of tribal areas of hampering the meter-installation drive in Fata and misusing the amount collected in the name of electricity bills.

Political authorities in all the seven tribal agencies also charge Rs300 each for a new national identity card and domicile, and levy tax on all edibles upon their entry to tribal areas.

Iftikhar Afridi expressed the hope that a special package for tribal areas would help overcome unemployment in these areas.