LOWER DIR: Electricity consumers on Friday complained about inflated power bills, unscheduled outages, unavailability of meters and failure of Peshawar Electric Supply Company’s staff to fix faulty transformers.

They aired their grievances during a khuli kutchery held at Pesco office in Saddo area here on Saturday.

Pesco deputy director, Swat circle, Hazrat Hussain, executive engineer Asad Ali Khan, leaders of hydro workers’ union and others were also present.

Elders, Zafarullah, Malik Ziaul Haq, Waqar Abid, Sultanzeb, Syed Amjad Ali Shah, Ishtiaq Khan and others complained about decades’ old transmission lines, which often led to disruption in power supply. They said consumers had to visit the office of the Pesco superintendent engineer in Swat for correction of their bills. They also complained about receiving power bills without meter reading.

Voice grievances against Pesco at khuli kutchery

The elders demanded of Pesco authorities to increase the number of meter readers to ensure people were billed for the units they actually consumed.

They said consumers were forced to get a faulty transformer repaired from their own pockets.

The consumers demanded of the Pesco authorities to allocate funds for transformers’ repair and facilitate them in correction of their bills in their own district.

They complained that the bill-paying consumers were forced to make up for the losses caused by the power theft.

They said several people had applied for power meters but the company was short of them. They said Pesco should replace the decades’ old transmission lines to minimise line losses.

Responding to consumers’ complaints, Pesco executive engineer Asad Ali said the company was providing uninterrupted power supply to consumers within its limited resources. He asked the participants to cooperate with the Pesco staff in curbing power theft. The XEN said Pesco could not overcome the menace of power theft without public help.

Mr Ali issued orders for on-the-spot resolution of some of the problems raised by consumers, and promised to take up the others with the company’s high-ups.

MEDICAL CAMP: Falahi Tanzeem Naujawanan-i-Rabat, a youth welfare organisation, on Saturday arranged a free medical camp for poor patients.

A cardiologist, Dr Muhammad Ilyas, children specialist Dr Asmatullah, medical specialist Mahboob Islam and others examined over 600 patients suffering from different ailments.

The patients were also provided with free medicines.

The organisation’s health supervisor Syed Jamal Shah, patron-in-chief Syed Haroon Shah Bacha, president Didar Bacha and area elders were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024