BAHAWALPUR: The number of power bill defaulters in the Bahawalpur Circle of the Multan Electric Power Company is staggering -- 165,000 -- who owe Mepco Rs2.5 billion in arrears.

A company official on the condition of anonymity told Dawn that 163,000 defaulters were private and domestic consumers defaulting on a sum of Rs1.77bn while the government consumers were about 2,000 who had to clear Rs660 million. Eleven industrial and 40 commercial consumers owed a sum of Rs5m and Rs7m, respectively.

In addition, there were about 30,000 permanent defaulters who have to pay arrears of over Rs770m and now they were being served notices.

Meanwhile, Mepco says 319 consumers were caught red-handed stealing electricity in the region on Saturday.

ATTEMPTED MURDER: Timely intervention of relatives and officials of the Jallah Arian police station and Tahafuz Markaz in Lodhran saved the life of a woman whose husband was about to hang her in village 33-M in Dunyapur on Saturday.

According to Lodhran police spokesman Khan Bahadur, suspect Muhammad Akram had strained relations with Shabana and wanted to kill her. The accused is on the run.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2023