Nine arrested, 66 booked for power theft

LAHORE: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) detected 91 connections from where the customers were pilfering electricity on the 52nd day of the grand anti-power theft campaign.

A Lesco spokesman told media here Monday that the company has also submitted FIR applications against 88 electricity thieves, out of which 66 FIRs have been registered in respective police stations, while 9 accused have been arrested.

Grand anti-power theft operations against electricity thieves are being conducted on the directives of the Federal Power Division and the Lesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Shahid Haider is supervising these operations. The Lesco chief vowed that the operations would continue without discrimination until the complete end of electricity theft.

The electricity pilferers as well as the Lesco officers and employees who facilitate them are also being brought to justice. On the 52nd consecutive day of anti-power theft campaign, the spokesman added, large agricultural and commercial consumers were also found involved in electricity theft and all of them were also disconnected and charged with detection units.

Among the seized connections, one was commercial, one agricultural, two industrial and 87 domestic, and all these connections were disconnected and charged with a total of 190,925 units as detection bill amounting to Rs8.136 million. He explained that Lesco charged Rs984,000 as detection bill against 19,702 units to an electricity pilferer in Sheikam area; Rs700,000 fine in the form of detection bill against 1,500 to another customer stealing electricity on Ferozewala; Rs700,000 detection bill against 40,000 units to another power thief in Mananwala; and Rs237,600 as detection bill against 1,993 units to an electricity thief in Kasur. During the 52 days of grand anti-theft campaign, the spokesman mentioned, the Lesco detected pilferage on 22,020 power connections and submitted 21,794 FIR applications against electricity thieves in the relevant police stations out of which 21,068 FIRs have been registered, while 10,771 accused have so far been arrested by the police. The LESCO has so far charged a total of 43,248,952 detection units worth Rs 1,873,019,444 to all the power pilferers.