The 'kunda' culture

Given rampant power outages many of us must have missed watching live on our TV sets the 'kunda' electricity theft operation that was in progress Monday night to illuminate a PML (N) by-election rally in Lahore. The venue of the rally was lit bright as the party chief Nawaz Sharif was telling his party workers how successive army intrusions hampered the country's progress and how their vote can strengthen democracy and change the nation's destiny.
But where he was really emphatic was his determination to usher in a corruption-free era in Pakistan. As he spoke, right above his head or near to it the electricity was flowing to the venue from the overhead high-tension power lines through two 'kundas' - hooks that are thrown unto the main lines to steal electricity. This is the most obtrusive way of stealing electricity, the less obtrusive being tempering with meters and refusing to pay the bills.
There is no authentic data as to how many of our fellow citizens meet their electricity needs with the help of 'kunda' but the practice is quite common particularly in urban population centres that are generally out-of-bound for the law-enforcing agencies. Also, quite often 'kunda' connections are made to feed power to light up public meetings, marriage parties and even religious rallies on special occasions.
The electricity theft with the help of 'kunda' is not media story as such, but it became once the PML (N) moral brigade got into gear to wriggle out of what was a caught red-handed operation. One of them blew the theft charge off his palm just by insisting that the 'kunda' operation must be the handiwork of the contractor who was hired to make arrangements for the rally, including its illumination.
The other said it was the administration's operation which needed the 'kunda' connection to ensure that the venue is well-lit and is secure against terrorism. Another said the theft of electricity is indeed a crime and the PML (N) would see to it that anybody involved is caught and severely punished. But there was no immediate reaction from the relevant person, Punjab government's education minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman in whose factory on the GT Road the rally was held.
We hope the inquiry ordered by the minister for water and power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, would succeed in bringing out truth in the matter. And a kind of point-scoring game opened up with some voices recalling how PPP leader Khurshid Shah's son's marriage function in Karachi last year was illuminated with a 'kunda' connection.
But thanks to an unusually prompt inquiry the PML (N) leadership has been absolved of any hand in this theft. A departmental minion has been found guilty and fined as the inquiry committee reached the conclusion that the 'kunda' was put in place 'to ensure security of the place'. So far so good; the PML (N) has been saved of embarrassment on the eve of an important by-election to a seat which remained vacant for Nawaz Sharif for quite some time.
The 'kunda' episode at the PML (N) rally brings under spotlight two important aspects, both having grave implications for our political morality and country's economy. There is no dearth of information that power theft is rampant and that there is hardly a way to overcome this menace. Not only the staff tasked to ensure security of supply lines against theft is unable to perform, there are many people who say 'only weak pay the electricity bills'.
Then tempering with meters has acquired the status of a skill and is in great demand by many particularly the industrialists. This is a curse that must be eliminated, if required, by use of force. May be the government succeeds in this, and this is also possible that non-payers relent and start paying.
But who will ensure that electricity bills are also paid by the mangers of places of worship and that 'kundas' are not used to illuminate religious ceremonies and processions. Theft of electricity and refusal to pay bills is indeed a huge challenge, but it cannot and should not go un-responded.
In this age and times there is no such thing as free lunch, much less in case of electricity which is presently in woefully short supply in the country. As to who actually engineered the 'kunda' operation we do know now, yet it is difficult to imagine that the PML (N) was completely in the dark about the manner its rally was illuminated.