A huge number of people, including former MNA and politicians have been found to be involved in electricity theft in Lahore.
Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO), in a major operation against power thieves, caught 330 individuals, including former MNA Mehr Saeed Zafar Padhiar and two ex-district council chairmen.
In the last 24 hours, the LESCO team recovered Rs 47.4 million in electricity bills from power thieves who used 1.37 million units of electricity illegally.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LESCO, Shahid Haider, as quoted by Dawn, stated that LESCO has formed 238 teams at all levels to carry out operations against power theft in Lahore and other areas, including Okara, Kasur, Nankana Sahib, and Sheikhupura.
He further revealed that FIRs have been filed against most of the power thieves, while 11 people have been arrested and 330 connections have been removed.
LESCO revealed that former MNA Mehr was charged Rs. 250,000 for 8,620 units, while former district council chairman Rana Ayub was charged Rs. 69,457 for 1,096 units.
Another notable personality involved in power theft was the former councilor, Nazar Hussain, who consumed 12,029 units of electricity worth Rs. 264,638 illegally.
Allah Tawakal, who formerly held the position of vice chairman in the district council, owed Rs. 268,112 for 5,156 units. Local politician, Tariq Javaid, was not far behind, with a bill of Rs. 205,247 for 4,753 units.
Ex-councillor, Rana Ijaz, consumed power worth Rs. 325,750 for 8,144 units. Sajjad Ahmad, a cable operator, was billed Rs. 125,000 for 2,500 units. Green Cap Housing Schemes faced the largest bill, owing over Rs. 3.59 million for a staggering 71,943 units of electricity consumed through theft.
CEO LESCO also forewarned that they have made a list of areas with excessive power theft in Lahore and other districts, adding that a similar grand operation will be carried out in those areas.
He said that LESCO has suspended three superintending engineers (SEs/circle heads) and sacked an executive engineer (Ex. EN) and SDO for inferior performance.
Involvement of Political bodies. Leads to presume that selected govt cannot take stern action against criminals due to political interests.
Such reports would make aware about charachter of the political persons