SUKKUR: Engineer Aijaz Ahmed Channa on Friday took over the charge of the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) chief executive officer (CEO) with the approval of the power utility’s board of directors.

Mr Channa has served Sepco in various capacities including XEN, SE, and CTO before being appointed as the CEO.

A farewell party was hosted for the outgoing CEO, Saeed Ahmed Daw-ach, on Thursday upon completion of his three-year post-retirement contract.

Sepco had remained under severe criticism from its consumers as well as middle management and lower-ranking employees during Mr Dawach’s tenure.

While there had been widespread complaints of inefficiency on the part of Sepco, power consumers were also unhappy over detection and inflated bills, heavy loadshedding and long delays in attending to complaints of breakdowns.

The middle management and lower ranking employees had been accusing the outgoing CEO of favoritism and failing to check corruption. Mr Dawach was facing allegations of appointing 21 incompetent officers on key posts, thus creating a sense of deprivation and injustice among competent and deserving officers.

Sepco workers had been highlighting all such issues at their conventions and other gatherings. However, Mr Dawach, speaking to this correspondent on Friday, rejected all these allegations saying that none of the officers appointed by him had faced any departmental inquiry or action.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2024