SWABI, Jan 14: Local leaders and workers of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) held a meeting here on Saturday to identify problems being faced by the local people.

The meeting, convened by the party's local additional general secretary Shah Wali, discussed several issues and said that due to bad governance the ANP-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had failed to solve people's problems. They identified excessive loadshedding as one of the major problems and criticised the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for sending inflated bills to consumers.

They said that whenever an electricity transformer was burnt due to overload the consumers were asked to pay for its maintenance.

Zar Dost Khan, a resident of Gar,told the meeting that two months ago the transformer of their area was stolen and alleged that the Pesco officials might be involved in such cases, as nontechnical people could not bring down the heavy transformer from the pole.

Shah Wali said that the Pesco staff had set up their own rules and they cut off power supply whenever they wanted.

Yousaf Ali, A PTI activist, said that sanitation was big problem in proper Swabi and Tehsil Municipal Administration was doing nothing in this regard. He said that the TMA was collecting taxes, but failed to take steps for cleanness of drains and streets.

Shakeel Dad said that continued increase in admission and other fee charges of private schools had becomea headache for the parents. He said that there was no mechanism on the part of the government to rein in the owners of private schools.

'We want improvement in quality of education and a strict mechanism to regulate fee structure and working of private schools,' he said.

Noorul Amin of Maneri complained about the worsening law and order situation and said that people could not come out of their homes after the sunset due to security concerns.

The participants said that the tobacco cess development fund should be used for the welfare of tobacco growers.

They said that the district had been receiving about Rs180 million each year as tobacco cess and the growers must be given due financial help.

—APP