LESCO kunda mafia

LAHORE: A private TV channel recently highlighted a shocking case of electricity theft where the main Lesco distribution wires were directly connected to the supply system feeding a posh residential housing society (Park View) located opposite the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore. This programme was telecast on the evening of November 29. A scrutiny of the powerful stakeholders involved as well as the owners of this society would reveal why no action has been taken so far, in this regard. If this had been a lower middle-class residential society, everybody involved would have been behind bars, their electricity disconnected and media coverage would have been most vocal.

Such a big daylight robbery could not have taken place without the connivance of Lesco officials. An FIA official accompanying the journalist in this operation tried his best to convince the Lesco official concerned to send his technical team to conduct a raid in the society and take immediate legal action. This was refused and lame excuses were presented as reasons for the refusal. If something like this is happening in Lahore, we can imagine the extent of electricity thefts in other parts of the country. No wonder these so-called distribution line losses are higher than the acceptable industry standards in other parts of the world. It is the powerful elite, traders and the land mafia that have the audacity to be involved in large-scale thefts amounting to millions every day, knowing full well they will manage to escape harsh punishments. The irony is that there are no power outages in such localities where organised, large-scale power thefts occur. At the end of the day, honest taxpaying citizens and the poor of this country have to pay inflated bills to make up for electricity theft.

Malik Tariq Ali

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st,  2015.

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