LAHORE: The Director General Audit (Power) ordered performance audit of Board of Directors (BoDs) of LESCO, FESCO and GEPCO.
According to the office order dated 20th July 2023, copy available with Business Recorder, the terms of reference (ToRs) for the performance audits, as well as, the audit has been finalized. The performance audit has been initiated in follow up of the performance evaluation report of the concerned ministry with reference to the Discos.
The performance evaluation report of LESCO was finalized dated 9th May 2023. According to the report, the T&D losses increased by 0.04 percent, followed by the computed recovery that remained 4.94 percent less than the target; AT&C losses increased from proportionate target by 4.50 percent, the overall receivable increased by Rs42.083 billion compared with last year and receivables against private consumers increased by Rs33.282 billion against the last year.
Similarly, the LESCO management could not achieve the target of installing new industrial and other connections and it carried out huge over-billing throughout the evaluation period. Besides, the percentage remittance as per CPPAG remained less than given target until March 2023.
There were also three fatal accidents of employees during July 22 to March 23, which demonstrate unsatisfactory safety management and non-implementation of safety SOPs. In addition, six deaths of private citizens have also been reported during the ongoing monsoon season so far. Reliable sources said the BoD, as well as, the LESCO management was resisting the audit.
It may be noted that political appointees in the BoD and subcommittees of LESCO have become controversial since the day one. According to the sources, the Board has held 12 meetings while the subcommittees have met 40 times in a short span of seven months against a huge cost of around Rs30 million. The Board is also allegedly involved in promoting the staff while negating rules and regulations. The non-political members of the Board have not only recorded their dissenting notes but repeatedly raised the issue at the level of Power division.
The irony of the situation could be judged from the fact the employment contract of the company secretary, Awais Yasin, has been over since 9th July 2023 but he is still serving the Board t. He is allegedly issuing office orders despite the conclusion of his contract period. In addition, inquiries are also under way against the controversial appointment of Human Resource Director (HRD) Asia Shoaib.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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