PESHAWAR, March 2: Wapda General Manager Saleem Arif has expressed concern over Rs53 billion outstanding arrears against Fata consumers. He was speaking at a meeting of Tesco officials at the Wapda House here on Thursday.

The companies Chief Executive Officer Saeed Khan, Director Headquarters Shah Nawaz Kundi, Manager Operation of Fata Circle Farid Gul, operations heads and other officers attended the meeting.

The general manager said Tesco could not survive if electricity dues were not recovered in Fata. He said the payment culture should be introduced in the region to save the company from collapse.

It was very strange that almost 140 million population was paying electricity bills while the consumers in Fata were not making payment, he said. He directed the Tesco authorities to continue survey for detecting unauthorised connections and said no new connection be provided in Fata till the fulfilment of all documentation.

Speaking on this occasion, the chief executive said that at present, each domestic consumer was using electricity of Rs3,846 per month in Fata, which was very high as compared with the consumption in settled areas.