Commerce Reporter
PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Thursday announced a huge relief in electricity bills and fuel prices in October.
While addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) headquarters, he said that he was there on the direction of the prime minister to get an estimation of the losses.
He said the people don’t need to go to the offices to rectify their bills as they will receive new bills soon. He said that the pillars of PESCO’s transmission lines have fallen and nine grid stations of PESCO were mainly affected by the flood, six of which have already been reinstated.
PESCO is facing major electricity issues in Swat, whereas the tribal areas electricity supplier, TESCO has the major problems in Bajaur. TESCO and PESCO have been instructed to resolve problems as soon as possible, said the minister.
The Minister said that except some flood hit areas of Swat and Bajaur, electricity had been restored in all districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa for which PESCO and TESCO authorities and field staff deserved appreciation.
He directed PESCO and TESCO authorities to restore electricity in remaining flood affected areas of upper Swat and Bajaur at earliest. The Minister said that Joint Secretary of Ministry of Power, Alamzaib had been deployed to oversee and monitor electricity’s restoration and reconstruction works in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and would report on daily basis to the Ministry about resolution of electricity related issues in flood hit areas of the province.
Out of nine closed grid stations, he said, electricity on six grid stations had been restored. Similarly, out of 126 affected feeders, 121 feeders were restored in the province, adding basic electricity infrastructure including feeders and grid stations were functional in KP despite devastating floods in Rivers Kabul and Swat.
The Federal Minister who dashed to Peshawar to oversee flood damages on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that destroyed electricity poles and transmission lines would be reconstructed on priority basis. He directed PESCO and TESCO authorities to expedite work on the affected poles and transmission lines in flood hit areas of KP.
The Minister said the flood had badly affected electricity infrastructure in upper areas of Swat including Matta, Madain and Bahrain besides some areas of Bajaur and directed PESCO and TESCO chiefs to restore electricity system in these areas on priority basis to provide relief to the affected population.
He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced Rs10 billion financial aid for flood victims of Khyber Pakthunkhwa to provide relief to the affected population. To a question, he said that a national policy would be prepared for provision of relief to flood victims in electricity bills. Besides KP, he said flood had also caused havoc in Sindh, Balochistan and southern Punjab.
Khurram Dastagir said electricity system in all food hit areas of Nowshera and Charasadda had been restored and no damage had been done to any grid station in Nowshera due to effective planning of the PESCO.
He directed Joint Secretary Alamzaib to closely coordinate with PESCO and TESCO to address problem of electricity poles within a week and report to the ministry about progress on its restoration on daily basis.
Khurram Dastagir said that a comprehensive strategy was being prepared to control electricity losses and enhance recovery.
Earlier, the Minister presided over a high level meeting attended by CEOs of PESCO and TESCO besides others senior officers. The Minister was informed that electricity had been restored in all flood hit areas of KP except some areas of upper Swat and Bajaur due to destruction of roads infrastructure by the floods.
Similarly, work on affected electricity transmission lines, poles, transformers and feeders in flood hit Nowshera and Charsadda was underway, and no grid station was damaged by floods in Nowshera due to preemptive measures by the PESCO authority.
The meeting was attended by CEO PESCO Abdul Jabbar Khan, TESCO Chief Tahir Khan, Joint Secretary Ministry of Power, Alamzaib and a woman MPA from Dir district and others senior officials of Wapda.
The Minister while expressing satisfaction over the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of PECSO and TESCO directed its officials to further expedite work in flood hit areas including Swat and Bajaur. He said government would continue effort till rehabilitation and resettlement of the last affected person. NNI
