PESHAWAR: Villagers from the outskirts of the provincial capital manhandled officials of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company on Thursday afternoon and briefly detained them during a crackdown on illegal power connections.

In a statement, the power utility claimed that the attack in Daudzai area was instigated by two local councillors and it led to the detention of officials, including the sub-divisional officer, in a hujra.

It added that the police showed up at its request and got the detainees released.

The Pesco said its team went to the area after receiving reports that councillors Zahid Bahadur and Gul Afzal urged locals to “shift loads of 16 transformers to the Nishat feeder.”

“When our workers started removing illegal power connections, the local councillors turned up and incited residents to violence against them. Our workers were attacked and shut inside a hujra. They were rescued by the police only after we called them for help,” the Pesco said in the statement.

It added that it had formally sought the registration of FIR against those councillors.

Earlier, the police handed over a contingent of 800 personnel to Pesco to help it with the crackdown on power theft and prevent attacks on its teams.

In a statement, Pesco said those police personnel would help in action against power thieves and defaulters.

“These police personnel will take part in operations in all circles, divisions and subdivisions along with Pesco teams. In addition, they will detain those involved in power thefts, impose fines on power thieves, and register cases against them,” it said.

The Pesco said it and the police had devised a plan for cracking down on power thieves and defaulters.

“The provision of police personnel is aimed at ensuring security of Pesco teams as incidents of the attacks on them are on the rise with each passing day,” it said, adding that the attacks were hampering the ongoing operations against power theft.

The Pesco said it had scheduled the operation down to minutest details, including the areas facing high losses, where the operation would be carried on a particular day.

It said that the plans provided for the presence of police personnel along with Pesco teams and would arrest those involved in power theft on the spot.

The Pesco said the recovery of dues from defaulters was also a major part of the task force’s job.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2024