MIANWALI: The Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) Isakhel division employees have created a mess by dumping the consumers’ bills in local mosques and a grocery stores in different localities of the town, instead of delivering the same at their doorstep.

As per locals, the power bills are dumped by Fesco employees at mosques and grocery shops, while the consumers are asked to search for their bills from the piles.

They said the practice had created a mess for the consumers in various parts of the district, not only delaying the payment of power bills but also burdening them with fines (for late payment).

They said the consumers whose bills got lost because of the malpractice had to visit Fesco offices only to be told that their bills had already been “delivered”.

The affected consumers lamented that the Fesco high-ups concerned had been condoning the malpractice by their subordinates who were avoiding their duty.

A resident of Isakhel, Omair Hashmi, said Fesco employees had been involved in the illegality since long but nobody was interested in taking up the issue at departmental level.

The Isakhel consumers have demanded that Fesco high-ups should take notice of the matter and hold a probe into it and penalise the staff concerned to resolve the issue.

An insider of the Fesco accounts office seeking anonymity said the employees were being paid Rs5 for delivering each bill at the consumer’s doorstep as an incentive which doubled their salary.

Executive Engineer (EXEN) concerned Mr Ehsanulhaq did not respond to the phone calls and text messages sent to him for his version.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2021