HYDERABAD: No action has so far been taken against a member of the Board of Directors (BoD) of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), who was caught red-handed on Dec 3 stealing power on a massive scale.

Sources told Dawn on Friday that BoD member Mehmood Nawaz Shah, who was still a member of the board and enjoyed all privileges in this capacity, was caught by Hesco circle-I taskforce (meter and testing) members, executive engineer (XEN) and sub-divisional officer (SDO) concerned of Tando Allahyar on Dec 3 during a recovery campaign.

He had three connections from as many pole-mounted transformers (PMTs) for tube-wells that irrigated his farmland in Bukera Sharif near Tando Allahyar. One of the connections was allotted in his own name, while the others were registered in the name of his close relatives, said the sources.

The Hesco task force submitted a request to the top brass for lodging an FIR against the BoD member on Dec 4 and the case was registered on Dec 17, a copy of which is available with Dawn. But the FIR did not follow any legal action by the Hesco.

The sources said that Mr Shah was misusing connections by converting them from high tension transmission line to the low tension line without extra payment. The connections had been showing zero consumption for the past five months, while power bills of three connections must have been around Rs150,000 to Rs200,000 per month. The connection which was being used directly must be generating a monthly bill of around Rs70,000 to Rs74,000, said the sources.

The power theft must have been going on for years but the billing status remained almost zero albeit a few bills issued from time to time showing comparatively low consumption of units.

Talking to Dawn, BoD member Mehmood Nawaz Shah rejected all charges and said that he had filed an application in the district and sessions court of Tando Allahyar over a week ago against registration of FIR against him.

He claimed that the FIR had been lodged in reaction to his raising voice during BoD meetings against issuance of detection bills to poor and honest consumers of Latifabad.

He said that he and his family members had around 12 electricity connections, six for tube-wells and others for domestic use. He did not get any favour from any Hesco officer nor did he exert any influence to get something done, he said.

On the one hand Hesco recovery teams are busy cutting off illegal and defaulting connections and removing PMTs in the wake of directives of minister of state for water and power and Hesco CEO to ensure 100 per cent recovery and remove illegal connections.

While on the other, detection bills worth hundreds of thousands of rupees are still being issued to honest consumers in order to hush up large scale corruption by Hesco officials, including supervisors, meter readers, linemen, line superintendents, SDOs, XENs and others.

The issuance of detection bills often lead to violent protests by the frustrated consumers.

Hesco covers 14 districts including Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Jamshoro, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Dadu and Shaheed Benazirabad where government and private consumers owes the power utility over Rs64.63 billion.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2016