Mardan   -  The majority of the masses, including local journalists and social media activists, have initiated a campaign on social media, demanding that the government and concerned authorities conduct an operation against government departments and institutions that are using electricity illegally and are defaulters of millions of rupees to PESCO.

It is noteworthy that PESCO staff, along with the district administration and local police, have jointly commenced an operation in the district against electricity pilferage and PESCO defaulters. In this operation, PESCO officials have registered Campaign on social media calls for action against govt depts First Information Reports (FIRs) against 596 people involved in electricity theft, resulting in the arrest of 31 individuals. Additionally, 1239 unauthorized connections were removed, and more than Rs 5 crore and 15 lakh were recovered from commercial and domestic defaulters, with 45 lakh rupees collected as fines.

However, several citizens of the Mardan district, including journalists, have initiated a social media campaign and demanded that authorities also take action against government institutions using electricity through direct connections and being billion-rupees defaulters of PESCO. A local journalist even shared a picture of the Assistant Commissioner (AC) Takhatbhai’s office allegedly receiving electricity through a direct connection.

Another social media activist posted that the operation team had not apprehended any major offenders so far and criticized the focus on poor individuals in the district. He pointed out that many government offices and institutions were PESCO defaulters and used electricity through direct connections. He demanded that the operation first target government institutions and their heads, who use electricity illegally and owe billions to PESCO. Afterwards, the operation could address the issues of the general public in the district.