Power, gas theft as cognizable offence: NA panel unanimously rejects PPC amendments

ISLAMABAD: The treasury and opposition members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior have unanimously blocked the move to pass the proposed amendments to Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 2016, declaring electricity and gas theft as cognizable offence.

The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior was chaired by Raja Khurram Nawaz held at the Ministry of Interior on Monday.

The House in majority rejected the proposed amendments in PPC’s Section 462 H and Section 14, concerning tempering with transmission line and gas pipeline. The members particularly PTI’s Zartaj Gul strongly opposed the move contending that it would criminalize the whole society.

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The Federal Secretary Energy, Dr Fakhar Alam Irfan, briefed the committee on proposed law, penalising the gas and electricity theft.

The proposed bill seeks to give police the authority to take action against electricity theft. A Grade 17 officer will first investigate and verify the theft, proposed bill suggests, adding, an FIR will be registered for further action. Zartaj Gul from PTI opposed giving police the power to register cases and make arrests for electricity theft. She, however, questioned if the public would now bear the burden of recovering Rs3 trillion in losses caused by theft. She criticised the government for planning to register cases against the public instead of addressing issues with Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Later, a three-member subcommittee, chaired by Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan, was formed to bring consensus on amendments to the bill.

The Secretary of Energy said electricity theft has been a crime under Pakistan Penal Code since 2016. The secretary disclosed that Pakistan’s circular debt swelled to Rs2,400 billion. He, however, said the IMF has set certain conditions to prevent further increases, and the federal government is using its kitty to make payments.

He suggested exemptions for domestic users if the committee wishes to avoid penalties for them. The energy secretary has said that DISCOs’ line losses touched around Rs450 to Rs500 billion. Quetta, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Sukkur regions are the worst performers with electricity theft on 98 percent feeders.

He revealed that losses due to theft are lower in Islamabad compared to other regions. He said IESCO overall performed well among all DISCOs with its losses stand at 5.73 per cent, below the target of 7.31 per cent set by Nepra. He added Quetta Electric Supply Company’s line losses are over 37 percent against Nepra’s target of 13.8 percent.

IESCO reported significant and 100 percent recovery issues, with over 37 per cent losses and only a 34.6 per cent recovery rate. The committee members also expressed annoyance over the bad performance shown by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

PTI MNA Zartaj Gul also took up the matter of PTI’s protest at D-Chowk and put forward few questions to the committee. She asked the Ministry of Interior to update the House on who ordered law enforcement agencies to use firearms and shoot at innocent and peaceful protestors in Islamabad on the 25th and 26th of November 2024.

“Would the Ministry of Interior provide details of how many people died or were injured during the incident?,” Zartaj Gul said, adding a detailed hospital record of the injured and deceased should be submitted to the House.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024