LAKKI MARWAT, March 20: A cement producing company wants to sell the additional electricity, generated by it, to Peshawar Electric Supply Company to overcome power crisis in the province, according to officials.

They said that Lucky Cement was the biggest cement producing group of the country having plants in Karachi and Darra Pezu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Lucky Cement has its own power generation units at both its production facilities in Karachi and Pezu,” they added.

The officials said that the company wanted to sell additional electricity to Pesco through its plant in Darra Pezu.

“Lucky Cement is holding negotiations with Pesco for selling 15 to 20 megawatts power, which can help overcome power crisis in Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the province,” they added.

They said that the power generation units of the company were capable of producing around 175 megawatts electricity. “Since the year 2010, state-of-the-art waste heat recovery system has been installed at both the plants to produce 22 megawatts additional electricity,” the officials said.

They said that the company wanted to help in meeting energy needs of the country by selling its extra electricity to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “However, a decision about buying electricity from Lucky Cement will be taken by Pesco authorities,” they said. LICENCES FOR WATCHMEN:

The district administration has decided to issue licences of arms to the watchmen of government school for protection of educational institutions.

“The decision was taken in the light of recent incidents of bombing of schools by militants in different parts of the district,” an official said.

He said that officials of education department were directed to provide the list of watchmen of government schools to the district administration for issuance of free arm licences to them forthwith.

“The watchmen will also be issued special permits to keep weapons with them during night duty,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that militants have destroyed four government schools in Dhoda, Zer Janu, Lawangkhel and Titterkhel villages of the district during the last one week.

Meanwhile, District Coordination Officer Nisar Ahmad chaired a meeting here on Tuesday to discuss security of schools with special focus on ensuring presence of watchmen in the educational institutions at nighttime. District Police Officer Gulzar Ali Khan and EDO Haji Meer Azam Khan also attended the meeting.

The meeting noted with concern that absence of watchmen facilitated militants to target schools. It said that the sabotage acts were also causing panic and fear among people besides inflicting huge loss on government kitty.

The DPO told the meeting that most watchmen of government schools remained absent from duty and a report to that effect was forwarded to local officials of education department.

“Most watchmen are locals so they spend night in their homes instead of performing duty,” he said. He suggested that all local watchmen should be transferred from their native areas to other parts of the district.

The EDO said on the occasion that watchmen would be reshuffled soon and the negligent ones among them would be terminated after conducting proper departmental inquiry against them.