LAHORE: The caretaker Punjab government on Wednesday issued instructions to all divisional commissioners and regional police officers (RPOs) to launch a full-scale crackdown on electricity thieves.

The instructions were issued by Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman during a video link meeting held at the Civil Secretariat.

The additional chief secretary (Home), secretaries of industries and energy department and Special Branch additional IG attended the meeting, while all divisional commissioners, RPOs and power distribution companies’ heads participated through video link.

The meeting decided to take stern action against those government employees and officers patronising electricity theft and to improve the prosecution procedure after registration of an FIR against power thieves.

The chief secretary urged citizens to support the government in the national campaign against electricity theft. He said power thieves were causing a direct damage to the national treasury, adding it was necessary to punish such elements.

He said according to the data, the line losses were the highest in the areas managed by Lesco and Mepco in Punjab.

He said the administration and police would provide full support in the operation against electricity theft while a committee would be constituted at the province level for monitoring.

The chief secretary also assigned monitoring duties to the Special Branch to detect electricity theft in industrial units.

The Lesco chief said strict action was being taken against government officers and officials involved in over-billing.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2023