Army likely to recover power bills in FATA, KP

PESHAWAR Due to increasing pressure of International Monetary Fund (IMF), it is likely that some strict measures will be taken in the tribal areas for recovery of power bills. According to the sources, the Tribal Electric Supply Corporation (TESCO) has asked the Government to assign the task to Army to recover the above-mentioned bills in the tribal areas. TESCO sources informed TheNation that due to pressure of IMF, the political agent has been assigned a task to launch a recovery drive. The recovery of bills will be made possible by the political agent with the help of military men in FATA and those who refuse to pay the bills, will face disconnection of power, sources said. The electricity corporation is further mulling a plan to end all kinds of subsidies on electricity in FATA as per IMFs conditions besides observing power outages in accordance with the schedule. The removal of subsidy in tribal areas will increase the power tariffs and it is unlikely that the tribesmen will pay the bills. Another important development, which is worth mentioning here, is the decision to use Army for recovery of bills in FR and some settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which are hubs of the criminals. The incidents of power theft is also rising, as the Government and department concerned failed to stop it, therefore, it has been decided to utilise services of the Army in this regard.