SSGC intensifies crackdown on illegal gas connections

KARACHI: Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has ramped up its crackdown on illegal gas connections across various cities, conducting a series of raids that led to the dismantling of numerous unauthorised gas lines, the company said on Saturday.

The company raided six buildings in Liaquatabad, Karachi, where the residents had extended illegal gas arrangements from the existing meter point and service riser through rubber pipes to benefit some 67 houses.

“The raiding party dismantled all the domestic connections. The approximate theft volume was calculated at 64,320 cm per year (Rs. 2,010,000 in monetary terms),” SSGC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, SSGC Nawabshah’s Distribution Department undertook a raid on one underground theft case in which three houses were being illegally supplied with gas through a direct theft clamp in the village Bakshan Soomro in Mehrabpur. In the case of overhead theft, five service lines were disconnected, with three in Nausheroferoze and two in Nawabshah.

“The raiding teams removed the rubber pipes and clamps and dismantled the service line. The Distribution Department is also raising theft claims from the above cases.”

In Sukkur, SSGC teams dismantled two cases of underground direct theft, one in the Burma Shell Depot where 29 houses were supplied gas through an illegal arrangement and another in the village Hakra in Rohri, where gas was being supplied illegally to two houses through installed direct theft clamps. Illegal connections were summarily removed.

In the Mohallah Officers Colony near Khairpur Mirs, three houses that were being supplied with gas from underground direct clamps had their illegal connections dismantled.

Aggressive raids will continue by SSGC teams that are showing absolutely no remorse against gas thieves.