DADU, April 8: Hesco chief Tariq Arshad has said Rs900 million is outstanding against 17,000 government connections. Talking to journalists at the Wapda Rest House here on Wednesday , he warned that if the defaulting amount was not paid and delaying tactics were used, government connections in Sindh, except hospitals, would be cut.

He said that the Sindh government had paid Rs500 million out of Rs1400 million dues to run water supply and drainage schemes. The Hesco chief said that he had contacted the Sindh chief secretary, additional chief secretary, local government, and the secretary for finance to pay the dues outstanding against the government connections.

He observed that Hesco was sustaining losses due to power theft and default in bill payment by private and government consumers. He said that 1,900 villages had been electrified since 2001 and 1,600 more villages would be electrified during the current financial year in the province under schemes of MNAs, MPAs, prime minister and the Khushhal Pakistan Programme.

Mr Arshad said that line losses had increased after electrification of new villages in Sindh. He admitted that meters had not been installed for connections in the villages. He said that the government was paying cost of meters to Hesco but power consumers in the villages were not ready to pay Rs200 per connection as security deposit.

He said that Hesco had electrified 146 villages in the Larkana circle during the current year but 100 villagers had not received meters for their connections.

About unannounced load shedding in different areas in the province, he asked people to report such cases to Hesco complaint centres and warned that action would be taken against officials concerned.

Referring to detection bills, he said that detection bills were issued to those who did not pay bills. He said that if any official issued illegal detection bills, he would be removed from service. Later, he visited Johi, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Mehar and Dadu sub-division offices of Hesco and held open kutchehris.