Karachi
The Surveillance and Monitoring Department of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) disconnected the gas supply to seven generators of 24 KVA each in the Shikarpur area in an operation during the last three days.
The owners of the generators were stealing gas from the main pipeline network and generating electricity, which was being sold to more than 1,200 households and shops in the Mahmoodabagh area in Shikarpur through their illegal network round the clock.
The SSGC authorities handed over applications at the local police stations for lodging FIRs under Section 462-C of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2011 against three illegal gas users identified as Junaid Soomro, Abdul Ghani Soomro and Qadir Bux, the owners of the generators.
The raiding party also conducted raids against such other owners of generators, including Mazhar Ali Shah (Red Palace Hotel, Khairpur), Rustum Kalwar (Ghotki) and Wahabullah (Shikarpur), who were illegally getting gas directly from the SSGC’s network and using it in power generation.
The company’s authorities are trying to lodge FIRs against all these culprits, but they are facing many hurdles because of the strong political affiliations of the culprits.
According to an initial estimate, all these power generators and other users were steeling gas worth Rs40.224 million per annum. The raiding party was provided full security cover by the local police and Rangers.
