KHANEWAL, April 5 With no electricity in cables and no electric locomotives on the railway line on the Khanewal-Lahore section, thieves have stolen about 10,000 metres of overhead electric traction cable (OETC) worth millions, Dawn has learnt.

Since the closure of electric traction locomotives (ETL) between Khanewal-Lahore section in 2008, up to 10,000 metre cable was stolen from March 21 to 28 in Kassowal, Kotla Adeeb Shaheed, Chichawatni, Pirowal, Dad Fatiana, Mirdad Mafi, Qadirabad and Yousufwala, a railway official said.

“The department neither probed into the theft nor reported the matter to police,” said the official, who wished not to be quoted by name.

He said the department was already under the burden of huge financial losses but senior railway officers did not take any interest to protect the rail assets. He said most of the cable was stolen in the last two weeks.

Khanewal Divisional Assistant Electrical Engineer Ali Kamran Jafri says he tried to combat thefts but police did not cooperate with the department.

“I visited Chichawatni deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to seek his cooperation but he took no action,” he said. He refuted the allegations that railway officials were involved in the crime. He said the department had also arranged patrolling along the railway line but to no avail. According to him, hardened criminals having hideouts in Chichawatni jungles had stolen the cable.

Chichawatni DSP Mehr Allahdad Luk says he was taking measures in collaboration with rail officials to check the thefts.

He said he had ordered cases against unidentified people for the cable theft. He said railway officials should increase patrolling along the railway track. He said there were no hideouts of criminals in Chichawatni forests. He said police, despite their limited resources, were very cooperative with PR officials to capture the thieves.