PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has taken notice of power loadshedding in the province and directed the officials of Peshawar Electric Supply Company to take immediate steps to improve the situation.

He summoned Pesco officials to his office on Thursday and expressed great concerns over power outages in the province. He directed them to take immediate steps to improve the situation and give relief to people. He said that a strategy should be devised to end the unscheduled loadshedding of electricity in the province.

The chief minister said that unscheduled power loadshedding in urban areas was not acceptable. He added that the province should get its full share of electricity in the total power generation.

“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the producer of electricity and on the other hand provincial government is providing significant funds to Pesco to improve the power transmission system in the province,” he said.

Chief Secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash, Advocate General Shumail Butt Advocate, Focal Person to Chief Minister Mohammad Khaliq, Pesco Chief Executive Jabbar Khan and other relevant officials were present on the occasion.

The chief minister said that the provincial government provided huge amount of Rs4.5 billion to Pesco from the development funds of the members of provincial assembly to install electric poles, transmission lines, transformers and other infrastructure. However, he said, certain irrelevant and non-elected elements were trying to get the credit.

He told the Pesco officials that the funds provided by the provincial government must be utilised through the relevant MPAs to complete the work for which the amount was provided. He directed them to complete the development work timely. He added that no delay would be allowed in that regard.

Mr Khan said that the mechanism of power load management would be devised in accordance with the priorities of the provincial government. He said that the representatives of the provincial government would finalise the matter with Pesco officials to that effect.

He directed the Pesco officials to prepare a plan to install power meters in the rest of the areas of the province. He said that provincial government would provide support and resources for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2022