ISLAMABAD   -  Senate Standing Committee on Power was Thursday informed that around 17 percent employees of ex-WAPDA Discos have been found involved in electricity theft or other related activities and investigation is underway against them.

The power distribution companies (DISCOs) have around 120,000 employees across the country out of which around 20,000 are found involved in theft or other related activities, said the special Secretary Power division, Hassan Nasir Jami while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Power.

Regarding the recovery campaign in the anti-theft drive, the Special Secretary power division said that during past six months they have recovered only Rs 150 million. Chief Executive Officer LESCO said that steel mill owner in LESCO area was found involved in Rs 110 million electricity theft but court denied him bail but even then he was not arrested by the police.

The Senate Standing Committee on Power, which met with Senator Fida Muhammad here in the chair, called for having a zero tolerance policy for areas having a higher electricity theft rate and recommended that electricity should be provided on the basis of what percentage of customers pay bills. The Committee discussed in detail the matter of outsourcing some distribution network to private sector, having proper metering system in place in areas of FATA, pending payments to Sindh irrigation department for work on Guddu barrage, and taking employees of WAPDA and DISCOs to task who are found guilty of involvement in theft.

The Committee on Power also directed the power division to take the sub-committee’s recommendations before the cabinet and take a decision on exercising loadshedding in accordance with the recovery rate. The Committee members called for having a zero tolerance policy for areas having a higher electricity theft rate and recommended that electricity should be provided on the basis of what percentage of customers pay bills.

The Committee was informed that the boards of distribution companies are independent of any political interference from the ministry in tackling theft. The Committee urged the companies to come forward if any matter relating to theft, losses, interference demands committee’s intervention.

Regarding appointment of maintenance staff for solar tube wells in FATA, the committee was told that this project was not undertaken by power division or AEDB. The Committee decided to write to and call the relevant authorities in KP government and FATA secretariat. Regarding installation of defected and expired electricity meters in Askari 11 Housing Society, the committee was told that the meters were not fixed by LESCO but by the society administration itself, however, LESCO has replaced all 209 meters with new functional ones. The Committee decided to call AC Revenue Khyber and concerned authorities regarding alleged sale of land to TESCO for installation of grid station in Jamroud without the consent of the owner.

The Committee was also given a briefing on the budget and expenditure of power division. It was informed that there is a total of Rs 245 million non-development budgetary allocation for the current fiscal year 2018-19 for power division, AEDB and NECCA out of which 95 million has been spent.

The meeting was attended by Senators Aurangzeb Khan, Nauman Wazir Khattak, Molvi Faiz Muhammad, Akbar Khan, Mushahidullah Khan, Special Secretary Power, MD NTDC, CEOs PESCO, LESCO, TESCO and representatives of other Distribution Companies.