MARDAN: The residents of Toru here on Wednesday threatened to besiege the local grid station to protest the unscheduled and prolonged power loadshedding in their area.

They said that the duration of power loadshedding was being increased with each passing day. They alleged that supply of electricity to several localities in the district was suspended.

Jehangir Khan Toru, a social worker and union council member, told this scribe that students, patients, children and elderly people were facing problems owing to excessive power outages in the area.

He said they paid bills of electricity regularly but they were not provided with power supply.

Ihtisham, another resident of the area, said that consumers often got the faults removed in the supply lines on a self-help basis.

He alleged that Pesco sent them inflated bills without conducting meter reading.

Some other dwellers of the area alleged that Pesco failed to take notice of the prolonged power outages. They threatened to besiege the grid station if power supply was not restored to the area.

TAXES: The regional director of excise, taxation and narcotics control, Fawad Iqbal, on Wednesday said that they were committed to achieve their target in recovery of different government taxes till June 30.

Talking to journalists at his office, he claimed that the recovery of taxes was being made from all the relevant districts.

He said that in Mardan district, they had recovered and collected 86 per cent different government taxes including property tax, registration of vehicles tax, excise revenue, motor vehicle tax, professional tax, token and registration taxes till date.

Similarly, the ratio of tax recovery was 89 per cent in Swabi, 86 per cent in Nowshehra and 65 per cent in Charsadda. As a whole, he claimed, they had made 85 per cent recovery of taxes in all the districts of Mardan region.

Mr Iqbal said that they would achieve the tax targets in the stipulated time at all costs.

He pointed out that government would encourage those officials of the department who performed well in recovery of taxes.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2023