Peshawar, June 19: Fed up with the continuous loadshedding, firebrand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur gate-crashed a grid station in his hometown of Dera Ismail Khan and restored the power supply.
CM Gandapur fixed the loadshedding duration at 12 hours.
“No area will face loadshedding beyond 12 hours. Assembly members should visit grid stations in their respective areas to ensure compliance with the loadshedding schedule,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader declared.
Ali Amin Gandapur slammed the federal government for the rampant electricity loadshedding in the province as protests erupted in major cities and towns on the third day of Eid-al Azha amid the ongoing heatwave.
The chief minister came down hard on the ruling PML-N, warning that if the issue of the unbridled power outages persisted he would be forced to take steps to halt electricity supply.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, CM Ali Amin Gandapur attacked the federal government for withholding approximately PKRs1,600 billion in dues and revenues owed to the provincial government.
“I am telling Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the last time to give Khyber Pakhtunkhwa its due money,” Gandapur said on Wednesday.
The KP chief minister said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought the province’s support over the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loan package.
“Firstly, I want the money of the province to be paid to us, if not paid, we will inform the IMF that they are getting money in our name but don’t pay it to us,” KP CM said.
He said, “It is my warning to the prime minister that you are forcing us to push your government out of power”. “I know, how to expel you out of power. You could not bear it. No one could prevent us from taking our due rights,” he declared.
He said it is responsibility of the federal government to end the power load shedding. “We will shut down the national grid if an uninterrupted power supply was not assured to us,” he warned.
“The assembly members should go to grid stations personally and restore the power supply in the areas where a load shedding of 12 hours being implemented,” he added
Addressing the police, Gandapur said: “I have informed the KP police chief that no cases should be registered against anyone at Wapda’s request. This is KP’s police. It is not bound to Wapda. Wapda is committing injustice, and we are not getting our due rights. You have to act justly.”
“Imran Khan has made me the chief minister of your province. As the chief executive, you must follow my instructions.”
He announced plans to curtail the national power supply from the province. “I am also coming to Islamabad. Don’t think I am saying this only from my province. I will say all this in Islamabad too.”
Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Fazal Elahi, a member of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), strongarmed his way into the Rehman Baba grid station in Peshawar on Tuesday and restored power in his area.
The police registered an FIR regarding this incident but did not name MPA Fazal Elahi in the case.
Officials from Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) reported that MPA Elahi forcibly restored power to ten feeders with high line losses at 11 PM, causing a financial loss of Rs2.64 million to PESCO.
According to PESCO officials, these feeders have since been shut down again.
The power company officials noted that Elahi’s constituency was served by feeders with high losses, leading to 16-hour loadshedding in those areas.
PESCO further clarified that in KP’s rural areas with high line losses, 16-hour loadshedding was being implemented. However, in areas with no losses, no loadshedding is being conducted, they added.
