Daily Times

After Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, his political rival, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has also complained about the incessant hours-long electricity loadshedding that continues to torment people in the province.

With temperatures rising across the country as climate change shows its effects, power cuts have become frequent and longer in some areas, leading to back-to-back protests, with incidents of forced restoration of power supply in the north-western province.

The prolonged loadshedding in KP has created a rift between the provincial and federal governments as CM Gandapur continues to bash the Centre with criticism and threats for the resolution of the problem on a priority basis. However, Kundi also admitted that loadshedding in the province couldn’t be reduced despite all meetings addressing the matter. The KP governor, who is PPP’s central information secretary as well, on Monday said that he expected the power cuts to reduce after the meeting of the chief minister with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and federal Minister for Energy Awais Leghari.

“The loadshedding couldn’t be reduced despite all the meetings,” Kundi said. Turning his guns towards Gandapur, who is a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stalwart, the governor said that he wanted the loadshedding duration to be cut to six hours by the CM announcing a 12-hour duration. He called on Gandapur to implement the 12-hour loadshedding schedule instead of forcible restoration of the power supply.

“Issues won’t be resolved with raids on grid stations,” Kundi added, as the PTI lawmakers continue to make trouble for the electricity supply companies under the Centre’s authority in KP. The firebrand politician under his administration has allowed lawmakers to use force to restore electricity supply to the province’s feeders suffering from more than 12 hours of loadshedding.

Except for the K-Electric, which was privatised in 2005, all the power distribution companies are owned by the Government of Pakistan, as the federal government deals with the power supply matter. The Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company (TESCO) is responsible for supplying electricity in tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan, whereas Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) supplies power to the rest of the province.

Gandapur has warned the Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government that things could get out of hand if it does not reduce loadshedding to a maximum of 12 hours in his province.

Following the footsteps of his party’s lawmakers, the KP CM himself restored the electricity supply on the third day of Eid ul Adha.