PESHAWAR: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to launch crackdown against illegal housing societies to recover outstanding dues of billions of rupees in head of electricity bills and speeding up operation against commercial power consumers, including the recovery of electricity bills from the users of defaulting feeders in various districts of the province.
Directives have been issued to district administrations and police officers across the province to ensure implementation of standard operation procedures (SOPs) before registration of FIRs against power defaulters.
The decision was taken in third meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Energy held here with Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Home & Tribal Affairs, Abid Majeed in the chair.
Besides, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, District Police Officers, Representatives of Energy & Power and Industries Departments, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO) also attended the meeting.
Under the supervision of KP Task Force on Energy electricity supply to 20,645 defaulters power supply was disconnected and an amount of Rs.1.43 billions was recovered from them. Furthermore, than Rs. 1.43 billion and another amount Rs. 110 million was recovered from the electricity consumers involved in the heinous act.
It was told in the meeting that since September 5, 2023, more than 10,406 raids were conducted in various districts of the province jointly by PESCO, district administration and police in streets, neighborhoods and bazaars, where large commercial hubs and factories involved in illegal use of electricity were raided. FIRs against 7080 persons were also registered by local police and 479 amongst them have also been arrested.
Moreover, the Chairman Task Force Muhammad Abid Majeed emphasized that strict action should be taken against such housing colonies which have been established without government permission, where the customers have arrears of billions of rupees and big commercial customers are involved in power theft.
The operation against big fish should also be speeded up. Recovery campaign against consumers in Bannu, Kohat, DI Khan, and Mardan divisions should be done at the level of feeders and it was emphasized to speed up the ongoing targets, he added.
At the end, the Senior Joint Secretary, Power Division, Arshad Majeed, while issuing instructions to PESCO Chief, said that the procedure of collecting dues from defaulting customers in installments and the process of motorization should be accelerated and all company’s officers should spend all their energies in achieving the recovery targets.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023