ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Friday chaired a meeting to discuss issues pertaining to the power sector, especially the progress made so far in the country-wide crackdown against power theft.
The meeting, which was convened on Friday, also discussed future strategies to curtail the country’s sheer power loss. During the meeting, Power Division secretary informed the PM Khan that the Power Division was collaborating with the provincial task forces to effectively carry the campaign against power theft forward in all provinces. He told the meeting that strict action was not only taken against elements involved in power pilferage but also against employees who had facilitated power theft. The Power secretary told the participants that recently, a gang involved in power theft by tampering electricity meters through a specialised software was apprehended by LESCO in Faisalabad.
The meeting also discussed, in detail, the issue of power theft and low recoveries in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). PM Khan was told that in KPK major losses were being incurred in the PESCO region.
PM Imran Khan expressed serious concern over power theft and said that it was ‘completely unacceptable’. He further said that those citizens who were regularly paying their dues had to face the inconvenience of load-shedding because of a few elements which were involved in the unethical practice of power theft.
It was decided during the meeting that electricity meters would be installed in areas where electricity was being used through direct connections (kunda system).
Minister for Power also briefed the Prime Minister about the progress being made in other parts of the country. He informed PM Khan that the power loss and recovery situation had improved owing to the painstaking efforts of the power division.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Power Omar Ayub, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Power secretary Irfan Ali, KP Home secretary Ikram Ullah, head of Energy Task Force Nadeem Babar and other senior officials.
Published in Daily Times, December 1st 2018.
