Federal Minister for Power, Mr. Omar Ayub Khan directed the concerned authorities for quick registration of FIR against electricity thieves and has directed the PEPCO to monitor and execute correct application of relevant law in the FIRs to bring the culprits to justice. He passed on the above directions in a meeting today to review the performance of power sector in wake of the targets assigned to various organizations. The meeting was attended by high officials of Power Division and PEPCO. The Minister expressed the resolve to take all necessary steps for making the electricity theft an expensive and cumbersome process in order to save billions of rupees for the national exchequer. He informed that his meeting with Chief Minister Sindh on last Friday was very fruitful and the CM has committed to extend all out assistance to SEPCO and HESCO in the drive against electricity theft. He further improved that he will meet Chief Minister Balochistan in the near future to seek his assistance in this regard. The Federal Minister was briefed by MD PEPCO that a total of 15,489 cases of theft have been detected since launch of campaign by the Power Division on the direction of the Prime Minister, while 7,543 FIRs have been registered and 1150 persons have been arrested. A total of 35.638 million units have been charged from the consumers on account of theft detection amounting to Rs. 564.570 million of which Rs. 116.840 million have been recovered. The Minister was further apprised that 214 officers and officials of various DISCOS have been either dismissed, sent on forced retirement, suspended or other disciplinary proceeding initiated on account of their involvement in electricity theft. FIRs are also being lodged against those officials. The Federal Minister expressed concern over posting of certain officers of various grades at the same station for more than three years and directed PEPCO to immediately take action in this regard. On statistics regarding observance of safety parameters by the line staff and on availability of sufficient and quality safety equipment, the Federal Minister expressed his dissatisfaction and directed PEPCO to prepare a report on international standards and implement the same in all DISCOs as current dispensation cannot be left to continue to the detriment of officials. The Federal Minister directed that the DISCOs performance will be reviewed in the next week on the targets assigned on various accounts including recovery, lines losses, improvement of distribution network etc. He also expressed his strong resolve to give merit and best performance a preference in the power sector. ***
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