PESHAWAR
In an effort to eliminate power theft across the province and keep in line with the caretaker federal government pla , the provincial government has decided to launch a comprehensive crackdown on those involved in illegal use of electricity for commercial and domestic purposes and defaulters.
According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, the decision was taken in the first meeting of the provincial taskforce and enforcement committee chaired by secretary of home and tribal affairs department Abid Majeed.
The meeting of the taskforce was also attended by secretary energy Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Commissioner Pashawar Zubair Khan, Commissioner MaLakand Shahidullah Khan, Deputy Secretary Industry and Commerce Maqbool Khan, Pesco Chief Fazal Rabi, Additional Secretary Power Division Arshad Majeed Khan, commissioners of various divisions, regional police officers and others.
The forum was informed that strict action against the influential mafia and big fish involved in illegal use of electricity and Kanda culture, while lists of various factories, hotels, commercial plazas, wedding halls, factories, shopping malls, rooms, shops and illegal housing societies in the province involved in electricity theft have also been prepared.
The taskforce members decided to launch a large-scale crackdown against the power theft in the province without any discrimination and warned those involved to give up the electricity illegal utilization.
The meeting was told that a total of 518 raids were conducted across the province during one week from September 5 this month, 925 illegal conductors involved in electricity theft were removed, 684 cases were registered in different police stations, 28 people were arrested and warnings were issued to 338 consumers.
During the ongoing campaign, Rs4 million have been recovered from the defaulters in one week.
Pesco Chief informed the forum that teams have been formed to ensure the recovery of more than Rs190 billion dues from the electricity defaulters in the province.
He said that districts including Mardan, Charsadda, Bannu, Peshawar were the hotspot for power theft in the province.
The chairs directed the quarter concerned to share the data of defaulters with all Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners of the district to expedite the recovery from defaulters and take action against those involved in power theft.
Commissioners and Regional Police Officers of Bannu, DI Khan, Kohat, Bannu, Hazara Division informed about the measures for recovery and prevention of electricity theft in their respective districts.
Secretary home and head of the taskforce Abid Majeed also expressed his dissatisfaction over the lack of public awareness campaign and weak communication by PESCO during the prevention and recovery campaign of illegal use of electricity.
He directed the officials of the PESCO to take pragmatic steps for launching a public awareness drive to inform the people about the government initiative against power theft.
Instructions were also issued to PMRU for performing the duties of monitoring the operation, so all the data regarding the operation should be provided to the same monitoring unit on a daily basis.
