KOHAT: The consumers, especially the traders whose businesses are dependent on electricity, have flayed the Peshawar Electric Supply Company for carrying out excessive outages in Kohat.

They also complained about low voltage whenever electricity was available.

They said Pesco played hide and seek the whole day on Saturday as light came for a few minutes after every 15 minutes.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, chairman of grand business alliance Haji Abid and president of Sada-i-Kohat Zahid Hussain Inqilabi expressed anger at excessive power outages, compounding miseries of consumers.

They said tailors, welders, mobile and computer workshops and photocopiers suffered the most due to prolonged outages. They said trade centres shut earlier than usual due to long blackouts.

They demanded that the office of the Pesco executive engineer should be brought to the Kohat city from the cantonment for the convenience of consumers.

They also called for lifting the exemption of units on bills of Pesco employees.

They regretted that deputy commissioner Dr Azamatullah remained unmoved over the matter despite complaints had been lodged with him about power outages.

When contacted, a Pesco official told Dawn that loadshedding was carried out as per the schedule even if electricity remained suspended for many hours due to other reasons. He said sometime electricity supply tripped due to mingling of cables because of hot weather

ARREST: The cantonment police on Sunday arrested a drug trafficker and recovered hashish and heroin from his car at the Kagahazai checkpost here.

SHO Saada Khan along with a team stopped a car for checking, and recovered five kilogrammes of hashish and one kilogramme of heroin from its secret cavities concealed in packets. They also held the smuggler, Hakeem, hailing from Peshawar.

The man was carrying the contraband from Orakzai district.

A case was registered against him under the Drugs Act.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023