KOHAT: The people of the Kohat city took a sigh of relief after the Peshawar Electric Supply Company ensured smooth power supply on Friday, following protest threats by city mayor Qari Sher Zaman.

Mr Zaman had given the authorities a 24-hour deadline to ensure smooth power supply as people had been facing acute water shortage due to long power cuts since January.

The mayor had called on the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and Pesco executive engineer, apprising them about the people’s unrest over the prolonged power loadshedding, especially during Iftar, Sehr and Taraveeh.

A Water Supply and Sanitation Company Kohat official told Dawn that six hours of uninterrupted power supply was needed for running the main OTS Road tubewell to fill the overhead tank, which supplies water the city areas. “But due to excessive outages, the tank could only be filled from five to six inches, which could cater to only a part of the city,” he added.

PENSIONERS’ WOES: The Togh Bala union council association has expressed concern about delay in payment of pensions to retired employees. The association regretted that the only bank in the congested area did not even have an ATM to facilitate the people to withdraw cash with ease.

Speaking at a meeting with the manager of National Bank, Togh Bala branch, on Friday, the union council chairman Haji Naveed and chairman of local welfare council Mohammad Inaam complained that the bank provided no shelter to the elderly pensioners, who had to wait for long outside in hot weather.

They said that till a few months ago the bank accepted all the utility bills, but it had now withdrawn the facility for unknown reasons. They demanded of the bank manager to resolve the problems immediately.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2022