Peshawar: An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of Commissioner Peshawar Division Riaz Khan Mehsud regarding providing relief to the public in electricity load shedding. During the meeting, Commissioner Peshawar directed for effective action against electricity theft and Kanda mafia, recovery of dues and installation of electricity meters.
All Deputy Commissioners of Peshawar Division, Superintending Engineer PESCO and all Exens PESCO attended the meeting. After detailed deliberation on various proposals to address public problems and improve the electricity system in the meeting, it was decided that load shedding of electricity will be done at the transformer level instead of the feeder level.
The aim of this step is to ensure that the responsible and regularly paying bill consumers of the entire feeder are not affected due to areas with electricity theft or non-payment of dues. According to the decision, the area connected to the transformer where there is no electricity theft and regular payment of dues will be exempted from load shedding as much as possible, while load shedding will be done on other transformers according to the situation of electricity theft and dues.
In this way, direct relief can be provided to consumers who do not steal electricity and regularly pay their bills. The Commissioner Peshawar Division said that this system will initially be implemented on a trial basis in different areas of Charsadda, including Matni and Chamkani, and other selected areas. After reviewing the situation in these areas, consideration will be given to expanding this method to more areas.
The meeting also decided to form special teams under the leadership of Assistant Commissioners in all districts of Peshawar Division to take action against electricity theft, Kanda mafia and major defaulters.
These teams will include PESCO officers and officials, police, members of the provincial assembly, former local government representatives, concerned tehsildars, gurdwaras and patwaris.
The special teams will start operations against electricity thieves and major defaulters from Tuesday. Addressing the meeting, Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud directed the concerned officers to utilize all available resources for the eradication of electricity theft, indiscriminate action against Kanda mafia, recovery of electricity dues and installation of electricity meters.
He also directed to make the mutual communication between PESCO and the district administration more strong and effective. The Commissioner Peshawar Division said that providing all possible relief to the public in the event of power load shedding is the top priority and such steps should be avoided that would cause unnecessary public hardship or protests.
He directed the PESCO officials to immediately redress public grievances while ensuring effective action against the elements involved in power theft as per the law.
He clarified that action to eliminate power theft and recover dues will not be taken against any individual or area but for the improvement of the power system and uniform enforcement of the law, so that honest consumers can be protected from unnecessary load shedding.
Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud also sought a weekly progress report from all the concerned authorities on the measures taken, which will include details of action against power theft, recovery of dues, installation of meters, action against major defaulters and relief provided to the public.
