Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur led a crowd to a grid station in Dera Ismail Khan, where he personally restored electricity, declaring an end to any load shedding that exceeded 12 hours in the province.
Accompanied by Dera DPO Nasir Mahmood and DSP Adnan, the Chief Minister visited DI Khan to address the ongoing issue of prolonged power outages, according to Express News.
This visit occurred amid a dispute between the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments over electricity load shedding.
The Press Secretary for the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa later confirmed that CM Gandapur has set a new load shedding schedule, stating that power outages will not exceed 12 hours in any area from now on.
The PTI leader urged all parliamentarians in the province to visit their respective grid stations to enforce the 12-hour load shedding schedule.
Residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are currently experiencing 18-hour load shedding.
The federal government, citing ‘electricity theft’ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has committed to providing additional supply only if theft decreases.
Meanwhile, PTI MPA Fazal Elahi Rehman has also taken action by visiting the Rahman Baba Grid Station twice, where he forcibly restored electricity to 10 feeders.
According to PESCO officials, after Fazal Elahi reactivated the feeders, power was cut off again in the morning. However, he returned and restored electricity to four more feeders.
PESCO officials report that in the high-load areas of Fazal Elahi’s constituency, load shedding lasts for 16 hours. In areas where there is no load shedding, none is being conducted.
PESCO officials also noted that Fazal Elahi’s efforts to reduce load shedding on feeders are ongoing, and legal action is being pursued against MPA Fazal Elahi for forcibly operating the feeders.
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Reportedly, PESCO lodged a complaint with the local police, leading to an FIR over the storming of the grid station, but the name of MPA Fazal Elahi was not included.
