KOHAT: The consumers have threatened that they will remove gas and electricity meters and deposit them in the offices of SNGPL and Pesco if the authorities do not resolve the issues of low gas pressure and prolonged power outages within 48 hours.

The consumers in Jungle Khel union council said they were being subjected to 16 hours of electricity loadshedding. They said despite protests the matter was not resolved.

The residents of Shahpur, the city and rural areas lamented that they paid the taxes to the government, but in return they were not provided even with basic amenities of life. They said gas suspension and low pressure and power loadshedding had perturbed them in winter.

Meanwhile, amid protests, adviser to the chief minister on information, science and technology, Ziaullah Bangash on Sunday directed SNGPL and Pesco to resolve the problems of low gas pressure and loadshedding by Tuesday.

In a statement, he said the Kohat people were being denied gas despite the fact that the district produced the commodity in abundance.

He said he had long been receiving complaints for consumers about power and gas outages, but the departments concerned had failed to provide relief to the people despite his frequent directives.

He promised the people that if it was found that gas was being supplied to Punjab and Sindh at the cost of Kohat then he would suspend the supplies to rest of the country.

He warned of taking strict action against the Pesco officials if electricity supply was suspended from the local grid station.

MASKS DISTRIBUTED: DIG Kohat division Tayyab Hafeez Cheema, district police officer Javed Iqbal and ASP Vaqas Rafique on Monday distributed free masks among the people during visits to bus stands in the city. They asked the drivers and passengers to strictly observe SOPs to contain Covid-19. They also asked the bus stands’ managers to ensure passengers maintained social distancing in vans and buses.

Meanwhile, SP operations Ikramullah has asked the Christian community to strictly observe Covid-19-induced SOPs during the Christmas celebrations to keep the deadly virus at bay.

He stated this during a visit to the worship places of the minorities the other day to check security arrangements there. He said security of all the churches had been finalised to ensure an incident-free Christmas.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020