Pesco officials stealing power, claims minister

PESHAWAR: Taking exception to the disconnection of power supply to many villages in the provincial assembly constituency PK-10 during the recovery drive by the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) teams, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Shah Farman Saturday vowed that the provincial government would take action against the Pesco officials involved in stealing power.

Speaking at a press conference at the Civil Officer’s Mess here, Shah Farman, who is also spokesperson for the provincial government, said power supply was disconnected to villages from Mattani 11-KV power grid station by the Pesco teams on the pretext that the consumers were not paying the dues.

He alleged that the Pesco resorted to over-billing in his constituency, saying about 3.98 million electricity units were supplied from Mattani old 11-KV grid station, while in electricity bills the Pesco charged an additional 1.29million units by showing consumption of total 5.31 million power units in the constituency.

He said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in general and his constituency in particular, “will not tolerate this sheer injustice.”

Shah Farman also alleged that many cases were registered against Arif Sadozai, brother of Pesco chief, Tariq Sadozai, who supplied power transforms and pylons in NA-25 constituency, where he was serving as XEN (construction) to gain votes for specific candidate during the last by-elections.

Similarly, he said the electricity was being supplied to Al-Moeez Sugar Mills on per Rs9.5 per unit, which was also injustice with the poor domestic consumers.

He also questioned the role of the Pesco Board of Directors, after the inclusion of provincial leaders from Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz.

He said the decision regarding the inclusion of ruling party leaders and people belonging to the native area of Pesco chief was not made on merit and it had made the credibility of the members of the Pesco BoD dubious.

Shah Farman said the government was mulling taking legal steps and stern action against those Pesco officials involved in power theft, including its chief Tariq Sadozai for allegedly using illegal connections at his residence.

“I am not personally targeting anyone, but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government came to power to fulfil the commitment to put an end to the corruption and injustice being meted out to the people of the country for decades,” he said.