SHANGLA: A small hydel power station in Serai Koz Kana area here has been awaiting repair for last 13 years after it was damaged in 2004 flash floods.

The hydel station was established in 2000 by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government under the Kohistan Development Project (KDP) to provide electricity to Karora, Serai and Koz Kana union councils of Shangla.

`Thirteen years have passed since the power station was damaged, but the government is still unmoved to repair it,` Sayed Irshad Azeem, a village council nazim, lamented. He said their houses had been provided power supply from a private power station but per unit charges were very high.

Azeem said while the Serai power station generated 200KW electricity, the private power house was producing only 50KW of electricity which was not sufficient for the union councils.

Local Sadeer Khan said despite holding meetings with authorities and submitting applications no one heededtheirconcerns.

`Shangla has huge hydel power generation potential which regrettably remains untapped due to govern-ment apathy, and the people of the district are subjected to prolonged power outages, even in the fasting month,` he deplored.

Sadeer pointed out that the private power station was unable to cater to the needs of the people of Karora, Serai and Koz Kana.

He said the people were also facing low voltage due to which their electric appliances were being damaged.The locals demanded of the provincial government to immediately repair the Serai power station, pointing out that some of the machinery at the station had been stolen due to ignorance of the district administration.

When contacted, deputy commissioner Abdul Kabir Khan told this scribe that these KDP assets had not been handed over to the district administration.