HYDERABAD: The Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) vice president and councillors have slammed Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) for prolonged power outages in the city and accused the power utility’s line staff of extorting consumers in the name of repairs of faulty transformers.

CBH vice president Shahid Aziz and councillors Tahir Shaikh, Azhar Sheikh and Durga Das said in their joint statement issued here on Tuesday that Hesco was resorting to unannounced loadshedding in addition to its announced programme.

They said that Hesco had made lives of people miserable in Shah Faisal Colony, a slum area of CBH. The burning of transformers and deliberately cutting off its wires, which led to prolonged power breakdown in areas, had become a routine. It followed the Hesco line staff aided by private persons receiving bribes from consumers in the name of repairs of the burnt transformers, they said.

They said that ‘kunda mafia’ was also active which was headed by one Junaid son of Hashim. This mafia deliberately created fault in transformers and then forced people to pay bribe for their repairs. The fraud was not possible without patronage of line superintendent of Gari Khata subdivision Fahim Memon, they said.

They urged Hesco chief executive to take action against this mafia and warned if it led to a clash between consumers and this mafia its responsibility would lie on the shoulders of Hesco.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023