SWAT: Civil society members and school students here on Saturday paid tribute to the Pesco teams for their untiring efforts to restore electricity supply to the entire Swat valley within 72 hours after a huge fire destroyed the 132KV grid station at Rahimabad on Thursday morning, plunging the district into darkness.

The fire on the grid station destroyed about 20 feeders, causing suspension of power supply to Mingora, Saidu Sharif, Rahimabad, Takhta Bund, Kanju Bypass, Watkey, Udigram, Qambar, Balogram, Hingaro Dherai, Kabal, Qalagey, Godara, Sangota, Manglore, Malam Jabba, Deolai, Marghazar, Haji Baba, Malookabad, Ajrang and many other areas of the district.

Civil society members and students visited the grid station and gave away the Pesco’s operation and construction circles teams gifts and acknowledged their untiring efforts in the aftermath of the blaze.

“We came here to pay tribute to the Pesco officials, who worked hard in the scorching heat and managed to restore the electricity supply to the entire Swat which is highly commendable,” said Mohammad Khalil Qazi, principal of the SPS College Swat, who along with students visited the grid station and gave away gifts to the Pesco workers.

The students also served the Pesco staffers with beverages.

A special Pesco team from Mardan also helped the local officials restore power supply to the affected areas.

Zubair Akhtar, superintending engineer of grid station operation, Peshawar, who led the rehabilitation work, said on the occasion that the gesture of the civil society and students was highly encouraging for the power company’s officials.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2021