PESHAWAR, Jan 12: The Water and Power Development Authority Chairman, Lt-Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan, in a meeting with tribal elders and maliks belonging to the Federally Administered Tribal Area, persuaded them to make the tribesmen of their clans pay their electricity dues on a regular basis.

The Wapda chief offered the tribal elders and maliks to take over Wapda’s 15 feeders (meant for Fata) on contract basis and recover electricity tariff from consumers on the basis of bulk electricity supply.

He explained the poor state of recovery of electricity dues from Fata and apprised the tribal elders and chieftains, from different parts of Fata, that the authority had been facing heavy financial losses every month due to non-payment of electricity bills.

He informed the tribesmen that from now on the electricity consumers - domestic, commercial and industrial - in Fata would pay monthly tariff on the basis of bulk electricity supply.

In this respect, bulk electricity supply meters would be installed in Fata.

According to a press release issued here on Saturday by the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco), Lt-Gen Zulfiqar told the tribesmen that while the electricity consumers of Fata owed over Rs6 billion to Wapda on account of arrears, the authority was collecting hardly three per cent of the total cost of electricity consumed by Fata consumers every month.

On this occasion, Pesco’s SE Fata circle informed the tribesmen that in Khyber Agency alone the power consumers consumed electricity of up to Rs150 million every month, whereas, the authority hardly collected Rs1 million electricity tariff in December 2001, from the Khyber Agency.

Responding to demands by tribesmen, Wapda chairman said that the authority would be able to spend more on developmental works in Fata provided the tribesmen started paying their electricity dues and monthly tariff on regular basis, contained the press release.

Lt-Gen Zulfiqar turned down the demand for restoring electricity connections of certain industrial and commercial consumers in Fata. He said that the same could not be done unless Wapda dues were cleared.