LAHORE: Minister for Housing Bilal Yasin has directed the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to implement digital reforms to eradicate corruption and eliminate manual processing systems.

Chairing a meeting after visiting the LDA Johar Town complex on Tuesday, the minister urged swift action to replace outdated methods with digital solutions.

“We aim to completely end the manual system and replace it with a digital one to curb corruption,” Yasin said.

LDA Director General Tahir Farooq and senior officials attended the meeting.

Crackdown on illegal commercial activities underway

Discussing the surge in commercial activities in Lahore, the minister ordered a crackdown on illegal commercial operations along 58 designated commercial roads.

He directed the LDA administration to issue certificates to legal businesses, ensuring they are displayed prominently at their premises.

To strengthen operational capacity, Yasin also instructed LDA authorities to increase the number of interns in the town and metropolitan planning wings.

He emphasised the need to halt the overselling of plots by developers.

During the meeting, the LDA DG briefed the minister that over 7,500 illegal commercial businesses had been digitally mapped, with plans to map an additional 20,000 gradually. Teams have been tasked with recovering commercialization fees from these businesses.

LESCO: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) teams have detected a total of 505 connections from where the customers were pilfering electricity in all its circles of five districts (Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur and Okara) during its anti-power theft campaign on Tuesday.

The Lesco spokesman told the media here on Tuesday that the company has also submitted FIR applications against electricity thieves, out of which 187 FIRs have been registered in respective police stations, while 31 accused have been arrested by the respective police.

During the last 24 hours of the anti-power theft campaign, the spokesman added, large commercial consumers were also found involved in electricity theft.

Some 24 commercial, four agricultural, one industrial and 476 domestic connections were disconnected and charged with a total of 357,240 units as detection bill amounting to Rs15.8 million.

Meanwhile, the teams also recovered Rs5.008m from 210 defaulters in all the five districts. The teams recovered outstanding dues of Rs0.08m from 21 defaulters in Northern Circle; Rs0.053m from 17 defaulters in Eastern Circle; Rs1.057m from 35 defaulters in Central Circle; Rs590,000 from 14 defaulters in Southern Circle; Rs200,000 from 23 defaulters in Nankana Sahib Circle; and Rs 0.043m from 31 defaulters in Sheikhupura Circle.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024