PESHAWAR, Jan 18: Harassed local officials were in for a pleasant surprise on Wednesday when angry villagers in the suburbs planning a protest march on Peshawar against power shutdowns not only agreed to drop the idea but also join hands in hunting down fellow villagers who steal electricity and cause the shutdown.

Electricity consumers from hundreds of villages of Badhber, Matani, Adezai, Shaikhan, Mashokhel, Mashogagar, Maryamzai, Sulemankhel, Bazidkhel and Sharekera areas had threatened to besiege the building of provincial assembly against prolonged loadshedding.

However, district administration and police high-ups persuaded them to postpone the protest as electricity supply was suspended to their areas owing to illegal connections.

Advocate Arshad, a leader of the protesters, told Dawn that people were ready to march from Badhber Bazaar on Kohat Road and block Khyber Road outside the assembly building by staging a sit-in but a police party led by SP Abdul Kalam Khan assured them of solution to their problems.

He said that area elders, led by former nazims Ghazanfar Ali, Abdul Baqi, Arshad Khan and Waqif Khan, held a meeting with officials of Peshawar Electric Supply Company at the office of District Coordination Officer Siraj Ahmed Khan and discussed issues pertaining to outstanding bills and illegal connections.

Mr Arshad said that the area people were demanding solution to their problems at the earliest otherwise they would take to streets on Monday next and the entire responsibility would rest with Pesco.

However, Pesco officials informed the meeting that there were about 5,000 illegal power connections in the areas that had overburdened the transmission system. The people of the areas had to pay Rs240 millions as dues, they told the meeting, adding restoration of power supply to the areas in the prevailing situation was almost impossible. They said that setting up a new grid station in the area was also being delayed owing to the same reasons.

Hearing complaints of both the sides, the DCO directed Pesco to restore power supply to the areas. An official of the DCO office said that people promised to extend full cooperation to Pesco staff in recovery of dues and removal of illegal connections.

They assured the meeting that they would launch a campaign to create awareness among people to remove unnecessary appliances to save energy.

He said that two committees were formed with local station house officers as their heads for the purpose. He added that 20 elders of the area would accompany Pesco staff to remove illegal connections to ensure regular power supply. — Bureau Report