PESHAWAR: The sour working relationship between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) got further bitter after Provincial Information Minister Shah Farman raided the company chief’s residence on Sunday.

The minister arranged a police party, led by capital city police officer (CCPO), and a group of local journalists for covering his raid on the Pesco chief’s residence.

Later, talking to journalists outside Pesco chief Tariq Sadozai’s residence, Mr Farman accused him of stealing electricity through illegal connections taken directly from the power distribution line.

“The minister along with media representatives and police raided Pesco chief Tariq Sadozai’s residence, Bungalow No 1, Wapda Colony, Peshawar and pinpointed presence of illegal connections,” said an official press release, issued by the provincial information department.

The minister, however, did not enter the Pesco chief’s house, telling the reporters that Mr Sadozai had taken a direct connection from the rear side of his house.

“He (the minister) could not have gone scot-free if he had entered my residence,” said Mr Sadozai.

Mr Sadozai, when contacted, said the company would look into the legal aspects of the ‘illegal raid’ on Monday following which legal proceedings would be initiated against the minister. “Who has authorised him to conduct raids?” he said.

He termed the move a political gimmick and an attempt to win cheap publicity. “It clearly shows that it’s something personal and Mr Farman is not doing this for the good of the province or its people,” said Mr Sadozai.

If he was sincere, he added, he should go with the Pesco staff to his constituency to remove illegal connections.

He said that the minister took the unpleasant step in retaliation to Pesco’s ongoing campaign against electricity theft in his constituency where the company’s accumulative line losses ratio stood at 95 per cent.

“The charge against Mr Sadozai is illogical because why would he steal electricity when he has a free of cost monthly electricity consumption quota of 3000 to 4000 units,” said Shaukat Afzal, a Pesco spokesman.

The release of the information department referred to Pesco’s campaign against power theft in Mr Farman’s constituency differently.

“My constituency’s electricity supply has been disconnected owing to political differences and people of various villages in my constituency have been sunk into darkness,” the release quoted the minister as having said.

He said that people in his constituency had not been provided electricity meters despite a written agreement with them.

“Ironically, the record of Pesco Matani grid station shows that it received 300,000 electricity units in one particular month against which it supplied 500,000 units in the same month,” said Mr Farman.

He said that Federal Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali called the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa power thieves whereas the officers of the electricity distribution companies were involved in power pilferage.

The minister said that he would shortly hold a press conference at Islamabad to expose details of illegal connections at Pesco chief’s residence and the involvement of Pesco officers in power theft.

On his part, Pesco chief said they would look into the legal aspects of the minister’s ‘illegal’ raid to take an appropriate legal action against him. “He is not authorised to raid anybody’s house, we will take him to task through legal means,” said the Pesco chief.

The minister’s press release quoted him as having said that two kundas (hooks) were detected at the Pesco chief’s house, which showed that not only the distribution company’s chief was involved in electricity theft but the federal minister of state for water and power was the kingpin of electricity thieves.

However, police spokesman Mohammad Riaz, when contacted, said that the CCPO was called in by the minister after he took journalists to Wapda Colony.

“The minister phoned him from outside the Pesco chief’s house following which he (CCPO) went to the spot with a police party,” he said.