ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) has apprehended 5,821 people accused of pilfering electricity since Oct 13, 2018, in all five circles under an anti-theft drive launched on directions from the government.

An Iesco spokesperson told this agency on Thursday that some 926 pilferers were held in the Islamabad circle, 771 in Attock circle, 1,780 in Rawalpindi circle, 1,562 in Jhelum circle and 782 in Chakwal circle.

He said some 1,371 applications were also submitted for the registration of FIRs, while 681 FIRs have already been registered. Some 67 pilferers have been arrested, he added.

The spokesperson said that during the drive, 4,495 meters were found to be slow, 259 meters tampered with and 105 meters had holes.

At least 962 pilferers were obtaining electricity through direct ‘kunda’, he added. He said some 10.21 million units were also charged to the pilferers besides imposing fines of Rs210.11 million on them.

Under the drive, taskforces comprising the respective chief executive officers, deputy commissioners and district police officers were constituted under the supervision of provincial energy ministers to curb power theft causing losses of millions of rupees on a monthly basis.

The taskforces, district management committees and enforcement bodies were in contact through a portal developed by the Power Information Technology Company and the Pakistan Electric Power Company under power division of the energy ministry.

In addition to these taskforces, independent monitoring teams have also been constituted with a mandate to visit Discos and point out irregularities and corruption.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2019