KOHAT: The unscheduled loadshedding exceeding 14 hours in urban areas and 20 hours in rural areas of Kohat is badly affecting the domestic consumers and businessmen.

Earlier, Pesco would resort to prolonged power outages for a week at the end of every month to overcome line losses, but the practice was stopped after the elders complained to the chairman Pesco’s board of directors Malik Asad.

However, the power company has again started loadshedding in both the urban and rural areas.

A tailor, Noor Mohammad, said that due to long shutdown they could not make deliveries of orders in time and the backlog was increasing with the passage of each day. He said that even the wedding orders could not be met which often resulted in altercations with customers.

Bashir Jan, a welder near KDA Town, told this scribe that they were giving date after date to the people who needed doors and windows for their under-construction houses.

A Pesco official told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that the meter readers and a superintendent were hand in glove with the power thieves and each minted thousands of rupees every month. He claimed that the money collected by the meter readers was also shared with the higher officials.

He said that this was why the black sheep opposed privatisation of the power supply companies because it would end their source of ‘extra income’.

Commenting on this situation, Abdur Rauf advocate said that on the one hand the Pesco officials patronised corruption, on the other they received monthly bill inscribed with ‘say no to corruption’ slogan. He regretted that the honest consumers who paid their bills regularly were put in distress.

The consumers have demanded of Mr Asad to hold an inquiry and take action against those responsible for the unscheduled power outages.

Published in Dawn December 19th, 2016