Resentment at excessive loadshedding: Gandapur threatens to take over Pesco HQ

PESHAWAR: Enraged by the hours-long unannounced power outages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday threatened to take over the headquarters of the power distribution company, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), if the federal government didn’t reduce the duration of the power loadshedding in the province from Wednesday night.

“I am giving a clear-cut warning to the federal minister for power and energy and the federal government to take note of the hours-long and announced power loadshedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I have several times offered to sit with the federal government and find an amicable solution to this problem, but they never took it seriously and there is no end to the suffering of the people,” he said.

The chief minister said certain areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were facing 17 hours of power loadshedding, which has caused serious problems to the people.

“The federal government should not consider our polite language as our weakness. If loadshedding is not reduced by Wednesday night, I will personally go to the Pesco office and will issue a power supply schedule,” Gandapur said.

He said that if chief executive of Pesco wanted to stay in KP, he would have to work with his schedule. “I will take over the power supply system if the loadshedding issue isn’t resolved by Thursday. This is not a threat but a timeline,” he said.

Meanwhile, the tension between Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has escalated as the provincial government has decided to take back the annexe from the governor at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad.

Relations between the chief minister and the governor have never been friendly but the ties became quite tense the day the latter was installed as governor. Both important public office holders belong to Dera Ismail Khan, the southern district of the province which has suffered from terrorism and militancy.

“The decision to take back the annexe from the governor was taken in the cabinet meeting that was held recently. Actually, our ministers are facing the accommodation problem in Islamabad; therefore, we decided to reclaim possession of the annexe to be used by the cabinet members,” Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, adviser to chief minister on information and public relations, told The News.

In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, commonly called as the KP House in Islamabad, there are separate annexes for the chief minister and the governor, but according to Barrister Saif, the KP House is the property of the provincial government.

“Yes, there is a political tension going on these days between the chief minister and the governor, but the reason for taking back the annexe from the governor has nothing to do with it,” Barrister Saif insisted when asked if there was any particular reason behind the move.

When reminded that Kundi had offered Gandapur to help resolve the issues of the provincial government with the federal government and even invited him to lunch and dinner at the Governor’s House, then why he (CM) didn’t accept the invitation, Barrister Saif said the appointment of Faisal Karim Kundi as governor was based on bad intentions.

“There are senior people in the PPP and someone among them could have been named governor, but they chose Faisal Karim Kundi to create problems for the chief minister as he has been his political opponent,” he said.

Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’, Federal Minister for Power Awais Leghari said that KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had telephoned him and promised to make an effort to help him bring electricity theft to an end. He said he was hopeful that the CM would fulfil his duty with a sense of responsibility.

Leghari stressed that there was no need for them to resort to loadshedding when the demand for electricity had eased. He wondered what the authorities could do in areas where 95 percent of the electricity bills were not paid.

He asked why an honest person who paid his electricity bills regularly would bear the burden of electricity theft in other areas.