KOHAT: Kohat divisional commissioner Syed Jamaluddin has said a crackdown would be launched against power thieves in Kohat, Hangu and Karak districts to minimise loadshedding time.

Chairing a meeting in his office on Friday, he constituted a joint working committee comprising army officers and bureaucrats to monitor the affairs of Wapda, and directed it to submit its report every fortnight for providing relief to consumers. The committee would comprise station commander, Kohat, deputy inspector general of Kohat region, deputy commissioners and district police officers of the three districts.

Mr Jamaluddin said Wapda meter readers were putting burden of power theft on the consumers who paid bills regularly, and directed that the practice should be stopped forthwith.

He said that Wapda officials were involved in power theft and directed action against such elements. Army’s station commander, Pesco executive engineer, sub-divisional officers of Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly deputy speaker Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, MNA Shehyar Afridi and other relevant officials were in attendance.

Mr Jamaluddin said that prior to launching of the crackdown a campaign would be started across the Kohat division to make people aware that power theft led to increased loadshedding and power breakdowns.

The commissioner asked that the Wapda officials to provide a list of the consumers who had not been paying power bills since long.

He also directed that the practice of severing connections to those consumers who paid bills regularly should be done away with and that influential people who got off the hook for stealing electricity should be taken to the task.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly deputy speaker Imtiaz Qureshi said Wapda was responsible for power theft due to inefficiency and corruption. MNA Shehyar Afridi said a transformer at Rawalpindi road grid station had been damaged months ago, but it was not repaired, which was causing fluctuation in voltage and unscheduled loadshedding.