PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs Mehmood Jan and Haji Fazl Ilahi on Monday warned that power consumers would besiege Wapda House if electric supply was suspended to their constituencies in Peshawar.
The warning comes in response to State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali’s recent threat to close down 11 feeders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over huge line losses.
Mehmood Jan told a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club that of the 11 feeders pointed out by the state minister, three were located in his constituency (PK-7, Chagharmatti, Peshawar), whose residents won’t tolerate suspension of electric supply to their area.
Flanked by local PTI leaders, the MPA asked the federal government to provide Warsak dam royalty to local residents, saying the dam had been constructed on their land but Wapda had yet to make due payments to them.
He said if the state minister continued using highly provocative language against them, Pakhtuns would be left with no choice but to ‘welcome him here in a different way.’
“Almost half of the families in my constituency are not paying electricity bills because they have not been paid Warsak dam royalty yet,” he said. The MPA said Wapda should pay royalty to the local residents without delay because the dam had been constructed on their land.
He said the people in his constituency faced several issues, so they were reluctant to pay power bills.
Mr Jan said negotiations was underway to persuade the people to pay bills but at the same time, it was the government’s responsibility to pay attention to the people’s demands.
The MPA said the federal government should accept the rights of the poor people in his constituency and install electricity meters instead of threatening them with suspension of electricity.
He said more than 5,000 families would be affected only in his constituency if electric supply was suspended.
“We will block power transmission lines to Punjab if electric supply to any of the feeders is suspended,” he said.
Mr Jan said after the 18th constitutional amendment, the subject of electricity should have been transferred to the province. He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced 6,000 megawatts electricity but its power demand was 2,000 megawatts only.
“Everyone knows Punjab leads provinces over power theft,” he said.
The MPA said the provincial government was carrying out several projects to produce 1,000 megawatts more electricity in the province during the next two years.
Later, MPA Haji Fazl Ilahi told Dawn that he would join the protest against Wapda if electric supply to his constituency (PK-6, Peshawar) was suspended over huge line losses.He said he would even take part in the proposed besieging of Wapda House on the matter.
“I have solid evidence that Wapda officials take bribe from people and avoid installation of power meters, and instead guide the people on how to steal electricity,” he said.
The PTI MPA said most of the people in his constituency paid power bills regularly but even then, Pesco had been suspending electric supply to them for long hours.