CHITRAL: Residents of Reshun village of Upper Chitral converted their ongoing sit-in here on Sunday into a hunger strike till the government accepted their demand to transfer the power distribution system in their area back to Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo).

Amirullah Khan, chairman of power action committee of the village, and a former union council nazim, told mediapersons that the residents of the villages from Reshun to Kargin in Mastuj had started the sit-in two months ago to press their demand, but the government paid no heed.

He said that the distribution of power to the area was taken over by Peshawar Electric Supply Company four years ago when the 4.2MW hydropower station of Pedo in Reshun was washed away by flash floods.

Amirullah said that the flood-hit power station was restored last year and the area was being electrified from it again, but Pesco carried out the distribution against the will of the consumers, who were fed up with ‘inflated and fictitious’ bills.

He said that there was a wide difference between the two distribution companies regarding power tariff, which started from Rs2.50 per unit in case of Pedo, but jumped to Rs13 per unit when Pesco took over. He said Pedo used to send him a bill ranging from Rs1,500 to Rs2,000 per month, but the amount jumped to Rs8,000 after Pesco took over.

He regretted that Pesco also failed to abide by the agreement it signed with the consumers at the time of taking over the power distribution from Pedo. He said as per the agreement, Pesco had to establish a grid station in Upper Chitral within a few months and fix the per unit rate on a par with that of Pedo.

Amirullah said Pesco was to pull out of the area once the Reshun power station was restored, but it failed to do so. “It is quite surprising that electricity is provided from the power house of the provincial government but the power bills are sent by an organisation of the federal government.”

The chairman of the action committee said that the residents had started a peaceful movement two months ago to press their demand, which the district administration has duly conveyed to the high-ups but no step was taken to redress the issue.

“A number of villagers, including two octogenarians, have volunteered to start hunger strike till the power distribution of their villages is handed back to Pedo,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024