Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur recently made a video statement alleging that the federal government is punishing the people of KP by continuing electricity loadshedding in the province as “revenge”. He went on to express his discontent, emphasizing that the Centre had further reduced KP’s share of electricity supply.
Gandapur criticized the former coalition government, Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM), describing their actions as deceitful. He lamented the complaints received regarding loadshedding schedule violations in the province and acknowledged the cooperation of local workers of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the provincial authorities in addressing line losses.
Furthermore, he warned the political rival, PML-N-led government, to improve their behavior with the KP government. He emphasized that failure to do so would lead the people to protest on the streets.
In addition to Gandapur’s statements, Asad Qaiser, a PTI leader and former National Assembly speaker, criticized the federal government for subjecting KP to “worst” electricity loadshedding, particularly during the occasion of Eid ul Adha, highlighting the impact on sacrificial meat due to unavailability of electricity in hot weather.
Meanwhile, KP MP Fazal Elahi and his companions undertook the courageous act of restoring power supply to 10 feeders at the Rehman Baba Grid Station in Peshawar, as power outages persisted even during Eid ul Adha. This act led to a written complaint from Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to the Rehman Baba Police Station, seeking charges against the legislator and 45 others for their actions, which resulted in a significant loss for Pesco.
The shared discontent over electricity load-shedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has led to a united front of strong rhetoric from provincial leaders and daring actions from local representatives in an effort to address the problem and serve the interests of the people.
