As many as 67,000 applicants and 127,000 consumers of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) are clueless about the fate of installation of new electricity connections and meter replacement as the company has left with a stock of only 52 meters on the week ending on July 27, 2016. The monthly progress report of LESCO reveals that the number of pending ripe and unripe applications for new connections had reached 67,000 in August 2016. Meanwhile, over 127,000 applications for replacement of defective meters are also pending with the LESCO at present.
Sources said the distribution company has issued some eight tenders since October 2015, out of which six have been scrapped without materialisation and the remaining two are yet in process. This undue delay in processing of the applications, both for new connections and replacement of defective meters, has panicked the consumers by and large wandering around the LESCO offices and ready to grease the palm of concerned staff.
Muhammad Jamil, a consumer in the area of Harbanspura, said his application for new electricity connection is pending since the last six months with no clue as when the concerned sub division will install it. He said the concerned staff told him and many other consumers that new meters were not available yet. They also have no idea when the stock will be available with them.
Some consumers have complained against the LESCO staff for compelling them for bribery. They said the linemen are accommodating only those who are greasing their palms. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act stipulates that a single phase connection should be installed within 30 days of the application. But a violation of this provision of law is undergoing unchecked and no one from the high ups is there to check it. The consumers are also suffering from the phenomenon of damaged transformers in many sub divisions without catching the attention of the LESCO higher ups. Talking to Business Recorder, one Rana Tanveer from the area of Gulshan Ravi said the transformer of his area was damaged but there was no one to replace it since the last one week.
The LESCO has been a centre of controversy since the present government has taken charge of the affairs. As many as three chief executive officers have been removed from the office over the last three years but still the consumers are unhappy with the performance of the distribution company. They pointed out that the distribution company was also over billing to meet recovery targets and line losses.