PESHAWAR: The police on Monday booked the ruling PTI’s member of the provincial assembly, Fazl Elahi, on the complaint of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for interfering with power distribution to cause a feeder to trip.

The FIR against Mr Elahi, who represents the provincial capital’s PK-79 constituency in the assembly, was registered at the Rehman Baba police station.

The police charged the lawmaker under sections 186, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code for stopping government officials from doing their duty, rioting, and organising an unlawful assembly.

A Pesco official told Dawn that Mr Elahi went to the Rehman Baba grid station on Friday and illegally interfered with power distribution system and shifted load from one to other feeder.

MPA says if power outages continue, he will go to grid station again

He said since the Akhundabad feeder, which supplied electricity to Mr Elahi’s area, reported 70pc line losses, the loadshedding lasted 16 hours daily.

The official said the loadshedding duration was reduced to 12 hours and continued to be at the request of the area lawmakers.

He said the same grid station provided uninterrupted power supply to CNG stations in the area from a commercial feeder, which was funded and owned by the businessmen.

The official said on Saturday, the people associated with MPA Elahi threw cables on main lines supplying electricity to CNG stations and thus, causing a power outage.

He said Mr Elahi later came to the grid station and asked its in charge not to restore power supply saying his men were helping remove the cause of outage.

The official said when the power supply was restored on the feeder, the load, which usually remained 100 amperes, surged to 400 amperes causing the feeder to trip.

He said when Pesco staff investigated the matter, they found an illegal line to be attached to the line near Musa CNG station but the residents didn’t allow them to remove it.

“The next day when the staff tried to remove the illegal connection, Mr Elahi blocked the Ring Road along with his 400 supporters and also entered the gird station along with his supporters and threatened the Pesco staff with dire consequences,” he said.

The official said the police also dithered on the issue and took two days to register an FIR, which, too, was weak.

He said the Pesco had informed the chief minister, senior officials and federal officials about the incident.

The official said MPA Elahi’s shenanigans and interference with power system could have fatal consequences and led to loss of lives.

However, Elahi raised the issue of FIR registration on the floor of the provincial assembly and criticised the Pesco over power cuts in his constituency.

He said he held talks with Pesco officials, removed illegal power connections, and got electricity meters installed in the area.

The lawmaker said despite that, the Pesco was resorting to power cuts in the area.

He claimed 100 per cent of people in the area were paying their bills.

Mr Elahi said the Pesco kept the power supply to Hazarakhwani-II area suspended for three days.

He alleged that the Pesco was supplying uninterrupted power to industrial consumers in the area after minting heavy sums from them.

He said if power outages didn’t stop, he would go to the grid station again and again.

“I am not afraid of FIRs,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2021