Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in a massive crackdown against gas thieves has so far detected over 20,000 illegal theft cases, officials sources told Business Recorder here on Friday. According to SNGPL officials, after the launch of drive against gas thieves the company has disconnected over 20,000 illegal gas connections, which were causing an estimated loss of rupees three billion to national kitty.
"In the past four months, we have saved over 4.5 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas. The consumer-wise breakup of disconnections included 19,514 domestic, 1,209 commercial, 55 industrial and 68 special domestic cases. This has been made possible through hectic round-the-clock efforts of the Company employees coupled with support of the various Federal and Provincial law enforcement agencies. The Company has up till recovered over Rs 124 million and efforts are underway to recover the rest of the amount. FIRs have been lodged and some of culprits have been arrested," the official maintained.
Official sources told Business Recorder here on Friday that as per initial estimates, the illegal gas users were causing a loss of Rs 25 million per annum to national kitty. The Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) on the SNGPL and SSGC system stands at 11 to 12 percent. Out of three billion cubic feet per day (BCFD) utilised by the gas utilities around 350 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) is being lost as UFG.
The prominent industries found involved in gas theft in Lahore included Al-Amin Dyeing and Finishing Industry, Sh Mansoor Steel Re-rolling Mills, Malik Steel Re-rolling Mills, Amar Brothers Steel Re-rolling Mills, Pak Re-rolling Mills, Muhammad Shahzad Water Heating, Liaqat Steel RR, Imran Nimco, Chaudhry Faqeer Hussain, Pak Panther Spinning Mills, Tariq Aziz Box, M Jehangir, etc.