KARACHI, Jan 13: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation loses transmission lines worth at least Rs4 million to thieves every year, Dawn learnt here on Sunday.

Well-placed sources said that in 2001 transmission lines thieves had struck 29 times, inflicting a loss of Rs4.5 million on the KESC. They added that 2000 had been a particularly bad year when in 37 incidents of transmission lines pilferage, thieves had walked off with power cables worth Rs7.3 million. In 1999, they said, transmission lines thieves had struck 18 times, inflicting a loss of Rs4.1 million on the power utility.

KESC officials maintain that they do not have the resources to keep a watchful eye on all transmission lines, particularly those in far-flung areas. They add that the pilferage of transmission lines also causes the KESC to lose other revenue as well because the power utility cannot bill consumers as long as the transmission lines are severed.

“A large number of consumers are not billed when the transmission lines are not there. This results in loss to the KESC,” they explained.

The officials added that nobody could cut off high-tension power lines unless he had the required technical know-how to do so or he was aided and abetted by the KESC officials.

A well-placed source in the KESC told Dawn that the one area which suffered most at the hands of transmission lines thieves was Gadap which was located almost 10 kilometres off the Super Highway.

When contacted, area residents told Dawn that whenever there was a power shutdown in Gadap allegedly due to cutting of power cables by miscreants, who were seldom caught and brought to justice, the owners of farms, orchards and poultry farms suffered great financial losses.

They added that in the event of a power shutdown 2,000 tubewells in the area, and activity in as many poultry farms, came to a sudden halt.

Locals said poor farmers could not take recourse to alternative, though comparatively costly, sources of electricity, such as generators and uninterrupted power supplies. More than 289,564 people, therefore, suffered in silence.

A resident of the area, septuagenarian Haji Jabli told Dawn that he had good reason to believe that the cutting of live power cables was done by miscreants with the connivance, or active help, of some corrupt KESC officials. Such risky job could not be done by unskilled hands, he argued.

Haji Jabli deplored the fact that the KESC could not prevent such blatant acts of power theft, adding that he had suffered an estimated loss of Rs100,000.

“Our farm had been sprayed with insecticide before the power shutdown. Due to the unavailability of water for over four days, the saplings have become weak and we will have to go for another round of spraying.”

The owner of another poultry farm, Ahmed Ali, told Dawn on phone that over 1,000 chickens had died during the latest power shutdown. “Chickens need cool air provided by fans. It is a pity that a large number of chickens died merely of heat. If I suffered a loss of Rs100,000 you can work out the total loss borne by 2,000 poultry farms.”