LAHORE: As the operation against power pilferage entered the third day on Saturday, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) management removed its 17 officers from their existing portfolios and placed them on ‘less important’ jobs in the company’s headquarters.

The action was taken following reports revealing them as ‘not enjoying good reputation’ and their presence in the field offices might affect the ongoing operations against the power theft.

On the other hand, the Lesco teams on third consecutive day detected another 248 cases of power theft in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana, Okara and Kasur and also got a Lesco official arrested for being involved allegedly in stealing of electricity.

“The transferred officers included three grade-19 superintending engineers (SEs), who were removed from their field posting and attached with the general manager (operations) at Lesco headquarters. Four SEs were posted on low-profile positions while 10 executive engineers (EXEN/deputy manager) were also attached with the GM (operations) at the headquarters,” an official source in Lesco said while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

248 power theft cases detected on third day of crackdown

According to a spokesman for the company, the Lesco team on third consecutive day also got 141 FIRs lodged against power thieves, including a Lesco official in Okara circle. The 248 cases included four industrial, six agriculture, two commercial and 239 domestic. The teams removed meters, transformers, material etc from the premises and charged them with total 861,061 units worth over Rs33.76m.

The spokesman said the teams charged 87,000 units worth Rs4.5m to an ice factory in Muridke, 210,028 units (Rs10m) to a steal re-rolling mill in Shalamar (Lahore), 50,000 units (Rs2.150m) to a factory on Bund Road and 490,508 units worth Rs21.520m to a factory on Ravi road.

The number of total cases detected so far, according to the spokesman, has reached 788 out of which 470 FIRs have been registered. The total units charged so far are over 2.47m worth over Rs103m, the spokesman said.

The Lesco has already reshuffled its field officers in a bid to improve performance by eliminating power theft. The officers reshuffled included 21 managers (SEs), 89 deputy managers (EXENs), 17 revenue officers, 221 SDOs (assistant managers) and three field store managers.

Meanwhile in a late night development, the Lesco administration took drastic action against its seven officers, including five EXENs, two SDOs and a line superintendent for being involved allegedly in power theft and installing electricity connections wrongly. SDO Qila Sattar Shah Mahmood Alam has been dismissed from service.

The promotion of EXEN Sheikhupura Rashid Somro and EXEN Kot Abdul Maalik Ali Abbas was stopped for two years.

EXEN Mananwala Muhammad Rizwan’s increment was stopped for one year. EXEN Mohsin Ali was demoted to the rank of SDO whereas EXEN (monitoring) Najamul Hasan’s annual increment was also stopped. Line superintendent grade 1 Mirza Aqeel was also demoted to grade 2.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2023