PESHAWAR: The residents of several villages on the outskirts of provincial capital on Wednesday entered into an agreement with Peshawar Electric Supply Company to install electricity meters.

The areas on the outskirts of Peshawar are infamous for electricity theft and in turn Pesco resorts to prolonged power outages up to 16 hours a day. Earlier this week, police booked MPA Fazl Elahi for interfering with power system.

A local court has granted bail to the lawmaker.

Pesco officials told Dawn that the lawmaker again came to the industrial gird station and interfered with their power system. However, a police official said that the MPA and Pesco officials then went to a nearby police office where the villagers agreed to install meters in exchange for reduction in power cuts.

The agreement signed by both sides stated that police, locals and Pesco officials would make joint efforts to end power theft in the area. Both sides agreed that Pesco staff would install the meter on the spot and local MPA would pay the fee.

It said that for about three weeks, the villages on Doura Road, New Deh Bahdaur and old Deh Bahadur feeders would face six hours loadshedding a day and in exchange they would remove all their illegal connections and install power meters.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2021