The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has intensified its operations against gas theft, one of the main causes behind company’s line losses, through raids on domestic, commercial and industrial customers on a regular basis.
In a statement, the gas utility said that since the inception of its Security Services and Counter Gas Theft Operations (SS &CGTO) Department in 2017, it had conducted 2,073 operations against gas theft by industrial, commercial, domestic to commercial and bulk domestic registered customers and carried out 4,173 direct theft operations against unregistered industrial and commercial consumers.
Raids against various categories of customers are followed by aggressive prosecution and those found guilty are convicted as per the 2016 law pertaining to gas theft.
During this period, 731 FIRs were lodged against gas thieves, against which around 230 individuals were convicted. In addition, 380 criminal trials were in progress in specially created gas utility courts in Sindh and Balochistan. The SSGC said it had also intensified efforts to rein in industrial units running on illegal and dangerous suction boosters.