KOHAT: The line staff of Pesco here has demanded availability of standby transformers and filling of vacant posts of line staf f well before Ramazan because their absence will affect the performance of the company when electricity demand is at its peak in summer and problems occur on daily basis due to extra load on the system.

They warned that the government should fulfil its promise of advertising vacant posts before April 16 by exempting the linemen from written test while keeping only physical test and interview intact otherwise they would be forced to stop power supply.

The divisional chairman, Javed Hussain Bangash, told this scribe on Wednesday that the Wapda bosses should realise seriousnessof the situation otherwise all responsibility of consequences would be on the department.

He said that there were three sub-divisions of Thall, Hangu and Ustarzai in Kohat which were operating under tight schedule.

He said that 264 posts had been vacant for sever al years and one lineman was working in place of five which resulted in accidents.

Similarly, for three sub-divisions they had only one vehicle for transportation of staff and transformers.

The workshop has no standby transformers due to which the burnt ones were repaired in10 days. Meanwhile, they have 27 complaint cells in three sub-divisions of which only three were functional.

PO KILLED: A proclaimed offender, identified as Azmatullah, was killed and two others were arrested in an operation in the mountains of Nasratkhel, according to police.Azmatullah had allegedly killed his father Omer Khan a few years ago and had been released on bail. Later, he again went into hiding with his other companions in an attempted murder case.

The police said that they got intelligence information that POs were hiding in mountains near the KohatHangu highway which was closed before the operation was launched.

The operation was supervised by district police of ficer Wahid Mehmood.

The police team was attacked by the POs after sighting them and the firing was retaliated, the police said.

Azmatullah`s companion Sajidullah was arrested in injured condition. After the search operation in the area his other friend, Mujahidullah, was also apprehended and taken to the police station. The seizure included three hand grenades, three Kalashnikovs and one rifle.