SWABI: People here on Tuesday criticised the Peshawar Electric Supply Company for power outages at Taraveeh time.

They said that the hide and seek of electricity continued round the clock and the consumers did not know about the loadshedding schedule. They said the Pesco staff had started a new practice of frequent suspensions of power supply at key times during Ramazan.

The consumers said that whenever they tried to contact the complaint office they found the phone busy, preventing them from even registering their complaint.

Rajwali of Maneri Bala village said that they were forced to offer Taraveeh prayers in dark. He said that many mosques here in the district did not have the UPS systems.

Dr Shafiq, a philanthropist, said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was responsible for the excessive outages.

Former MPA Babar Salim claimed in a party gathering that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government wanted to defame the new government in the centre, but the people knew those behind the power outages.

When contacted, a Pesco official said that they were forced to resort to outages due to immense load.

PM’S STEPS WELCOMED: Political activists and pensioners here on Tuesday welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Mian Shehbaz Sharif to restore Benazir Income Support Programme and increase salary and pension of the public sector employees and minimum wage from Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 per month.

All Pakistan Pensioners Association, Swabi chapter, president Waris Khan appreciated the constitutional and legal steps taken by the united opposition leadership, as the people wanted to get rid of the previous rulers who failed to deliver.

Various union leaders of Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate said that with the formation of the new government the workers’ problems would be resolved on priority.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2022