KARACHI, Aug 29 The Karachi Electric Supply Company on Saturday unfolded its 10-point charter for tackling power theft, declaring that it has launched a fully-fledged campaign against electricity theft and solicited consumers support in this drive if they want an end to load-shedding and power outages.

Speaking to the media, KESC CEO Naveed Ismail said the utility has requested the federal government to make electricity theft a non-bailable offence, as is the practice in many other countries.

Accompanied by Jan Abbas Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer (Distribution) and Zahid Chaudhry, Head of the Supply Chain, Mr Ismail informed the media that 37 cases had been registered against those involved in electricity theft and seven persons had been arrested.

Unveiling the 10-point charter, Mr Ismail said that from now onwards, the KESC had decided not to offer any relief, bargain, instalments or grace period to the individuals and institutions involved in stealing electricity.

“Instead of showing politeness to the power thieves as we have been doing in the initial few months, we shall now be pursuing an aggressive and hard-hitting fight against theft, and would not only register criminal cases but would also announce the names of the culprits in the media through statements as well as advertisements, with the specific purpose of bringing shame to them,” he declared.

He also pointed out that after surveying the whole situation, the KESC had reached the conclusion that more than the dwellers of slums and katchi abadis, electricity theft had mainly been committed by well-off, rich and influential users who could easily afford to pay their bills.

This situation called for a harsh action, he said and added that no further leniency would be allowed towards this “cancer”, which had been eating away at the utility in financial and organisational terms as well as causing the pain of long outages to “genuine and law-abiding consumers”.

He asserted that the KESC needed bills to be paid on time so that it could not only invest in future plans but also contribute towards the country's economic growth by ensuring uninterrupted power supply to all domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural users.

'Name and shame' drive

Explaining the details of the KESC's 'name and shame' drive, the KESC CEO said the theft of electricity was a core issue for the KESC, and that 'kunda' connections were only one aspect of the problem. He said the central issue was the “organised and systematic theft of electricity by those individuals, organisations and institutions who know their obligations to society and can afford to pay, but do not do so”.

He said that raids would be conducted against each and every power thief, whether big or small, and whether they were influential or not, with the help of the KESC's police as well as the normal police and Rangers personnel. The KESC, he said, had waited for a fair period of time since its first call against power theft about three months ago, and now it needed to bring order to the situation and, as a result of recent developments, the KESC had the “full support” of the federal government, the CDGK and other key bodies in the fight against theft.

While Mr Ismail declared an all-out war on power thieves, he did not spell out what action will the utility take against its own employees with whose connivance this crime was being committed.

Further, he said, the KESC has requested the federal authorities to support an amendment to the Electricity Act 1910, making electricity theft a non-bailable offence.

Jan Abbas Zaidi informed the media that a total of 37 cases had recently been registered against power thieves and seven accused had been arrested on this charge. The challans of 18 cases had been prepared while work was in progress on the remaining 19 cases. Regarding seven high profile cases, he named the City Hospital, DMCHS, which stole power worth Rs3,856,321; L'ecole School, DHA, Rs6,090,067; Hilltop Hotel KECHS, Rs4,340,313; Askari Park near Old Sabzi Mandi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Rs1,700,000; Shoe Factory in PIB Colony, Rs1,000,000; Plastic Factory, Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block No 4, Rs900,000; and Abid Masood Ice Factory, Korangi, Rs2,000,000 with Rs500,000 monthly theft.

Five major areas identified in the light of public complaints were Gulistan-i-Jauhar, from where 86 complaints had been received; New Karachi 54; Colony No 2 Korangi 34; Malir City 32; Block 13 Gulshan-i-Iqbal 24; Korangi Colony 23; Baldia Colony 22; Shah Faisal Colony 21 and Garden West 20. A total of 47 cases had been registered against the persons involved in wire theft and 54 accused had been arrested so far, he added. He said that action had also been taken against the KESC employees who had been found guilty on charges of involvement in the theft.