SUKKUR, May 30: A number of Hesco consumers in Sukkur have been given detection bills for the month of May without any valid reason. The detection bills, sources said, were issued by the Hesco authorities to compensate for the line losses amounting to approximately 600,000 units in Sukkur.

The detection bills were handed over to the consumers in the backdrop of orders issued by the senior Hesco officials to the concerned SDOs “ to cover the line losses”, sources said.

A survey conducted by Dawn revealed that hundreds of people including women were seen standing in front of the offices of the Superintendent Engineer, Hesco, XEN and SDOs, seeking an explanation for detection bills issued to them.

Some of the Hesco officials were seen warning them either to deposit the detection amount or face disconnections.

An elderly woman braving the sizzling heat at the Hesco office said: There was only one ceiling fan and two tube lights in my house and I was handed over a bill of Rs 6000.” Substantiating his claim, a man showed his previous bills amounting to an average of Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000 per month while in the month of May he had received an inflated bill of Rs. 7000.

Approximately 40 per cent of the people received the bills for the month of May with huge detections.

Besides this, the Hesco authorities also removed a number of meters, installed for the last many years, from various houses and shops claiming that they were plying slow and replaced them with new ones.

The consumers maintained that it has been the practice of the Hesco authorities to change the meters in summer only to replace them with fast ones in a bid to extract more from the common men.

Our Khairpur correspondent adds: Power supply to Bugri, Bhutta, Khaskheli and Rajpar Mohallas which was disconnected as transformers went out of order last week, could not be restored.

Residents of these areas staged a demonstration at Bugri Mohalla chowk here on Monday, the second consecutive day.

The protesters raised slogans against the Hesco officials. On the other hand, power consumers staged a demonstration at Bhailar-Ranipur link road against the Hesco for not reinstalling transformers since last one week in the Wada Bhailar village.

Meanwhile, a number of organisations have fixed banners on Panj Gulla chowk against Hesco Khairpur and Luqman sub-divisions.