LAHORE: Slow pace of work on arrests of the power pilferers is affecting recovery of the fines in the wake of units charged and other issues in the operations continued nationwide these days.

On the other hand, the power distribution companies (Discos) in Punjab continue to take lead in respect of raids, registration of cases, arrests, recovery etc across the country, Dawn has learnt.

“Everything, except arrests, is going well. Therefore, the departments concerned, including police, assisting Discos in the anti-power theft operations will have to arrest all those nominated in the FIRs to recover the fines imposed in the form of detected bills/units charged,” an official source said while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

“In various cases, the influential people (Discos’ field officials, lawyers, officers etc) are allegedly supporting the electricity thieves,” the official, requesting anonymity, alleged.

According to a document shared with Dawn, Lesco is on top of the list with detection of 6,954 power theft cases in the areas of Lahore district, Kasur, Okara, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib from Sept 7 to 22. Of the detected cases, police, so far, have registered 5,821 FIRs whereas only 470 people were arrested.

In the theft cases, over 16.4m units worth Rs716.8m out of which only Rs111m or so were recovered.

The Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) detected 858 cases and police registered 803 FIRs while only 43 people were arrested while of Rs74.4m against 2m units charged in the wake of power pilferage, Rs41m were recovered.

The Faisalabad Electric Power Company (Fesco) detected 1,608 power theft cases, 1,462 FIRs were registered whereas only 294 people were arrested. As many as 4.4m units worth Rs195m were charged while Rs58m were recovered.

The Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) detected 3,974 cases of which 3,879 were registered whereas 617 people were arrested. An amount of Rs82m was recovered out of Rs294m charged against 7m units.

“Keeping in view the slow pace of work related to arrests and raids in the hotspots (the areas where the teams are facing severe resistance), the government may also call the law enforcement agencies other than police in the near future,” warned the official.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023