ISLAMBAD: A man got a case registered against two Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) officials over their alleged corruption.

Talking to Dawn, Fazal Quyyum, a resident of Mohala Adda, said the two officials – a sub-divisional officer and a lineman - removed an electric meter from the house of a woman residing in his neighbourhood. He approached a senior officer of Wapda and lodged a complaint against them some months ago. An inquiry was conducted and the two officials were found guilty and it came to light that they sold the meter for Rs150,000 to another man, after removing it from the woman’s house, he said, adding in order to take revenge from him for lodging a complaint, the officials then sent him a bill of Rs258,000 along with one of Rs65,000 for fuel adjustment in April.

He said he tried to get the bill corrected but no one in Wapda listened to him so he had to pay the bill in installments. Afterwards, Mr Qayyum informed Wapda’s chief executive officer about what had happened. An inquiry was conducted against the two officials again and they were found guilty, he said, adding that they removed electric meters from three houses and the service station, since there was no electricity there for the last five months.

Instead of action against the two officials, they were transferred to another place, he added.

Later, Mr Qayyum approached the deputy commissioner, on whose directives, a case was registered against them at Secretariat police station. According to the first information report (FIR), the complainant is a poor man and the two officials sent him a bill of 5,788 units. It states that the two officials asked Mr Qayyum to settle the issue and also threatened him using obnoxious language.

Mr Qayyum has requested authorities to reinstall the meters and restore power supply as there was no outstanding amount remaining, the FIR stated.

Legal action would also be taken against the two officials for misusing their powers.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2022