CHITRAL: Electricity consumers have rejected the meter reading app as announced by the power division, insisting it is impractical in a remote and backward district like Chitral, where over 90 per cent of people do not have Android phones and only one per cent consumers can use the app due to low literacy rate.

In response to the notice issued to consumers by Peshawar Electric Supply Company’s subdivision Chitral for using the app, they said this was a frivolous and impractical decision that wouldn’t benefit the consumers and that there were also technical complications in it.

Jughoor village council chairman said all Discos (distribution companies) had already spent billions of rupees to purchase Android phone sets which they have handed over to meter readers so that a photo of each consumer’s meter reading can be printed on the bill, but this was not being implemented in Chitral.

He said Pesco was a commercial organisation whose responsibility was to deploy the required number of meter readers and bill distributors here and not to burden the consumers with meter reading under the guise of a smart app.

Power consumers insist majority of them don’t have smartphones

He said even if the app was introduced, Pesco could not be absolved of its duty because the app’s use was optional and if a user couldn’t or didn’t want to use it, then the power distribution company was responsible for distributing the bill at the doorsteps of consumers.

DRUG REHABILITATION: The first batch of 24 drug addict youth from Lower Chitral was sent to Peshawar on Friday where they will undergo a rigorous treatment course for four months for their rehabilitation, making them active and useful members of the society.

An official of the district administration told Dawn that it was the initiative of Lower Chitral’s newly-posted deputy commissioner Mohammad Hashim Azeem with the coordination of district police and social welfare department aimed at rehabilitation of the youth.

He said the age of the addicted youth ranged between 20 and 30 years, while one of the them was over 40, and they belonged to different localities of Chitral town and the villages on its outskirts.

He said the rehabilitated youth would be given technical training, enabling them to earn a living.

He said upon their return, each rehabilitated person would be monitored and mentored to prevent them from rejoining the bad company.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2025