SWABI: Former speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser has said that severe and unjust outages of electricity in the district continues unabated.

Talking to media at Swabi Press Club, he said that he had also raised the issue of the electricity crisis and public hardship in Swabi on the floor of the National Assembly, but no relief had been provided so far.

He said that Pesco was facing a 57 pc shortage of meter readers and linemen and both Pesco and the federal government had failed to fulfill their responsibilities.

He said that according to Nepra’s records, Pesco ‘s recovery rate is 91pc, yet load-shedding is being carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being punished for voting for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

He demanded that federal government immediately release dues of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rs123 billion owed by it under Net Hydel Profit, while Rs. 478 billion in Fata funds, not been disbursed despite commitments.

He demanded that the government immediately end the unwarranted load-shedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, pay the Net Hydel Profit dues, and fulfill the promises made at the time of the Fata merger.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2025