Mismanagement: SEPCO fails to stop employees hiring private electricians

Five months have passed since action was ordered

SUKKUR: The Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) has failed to take any action against its employees who have hired private electricians for their official work despite the lapse of nearly five months.

On April 29, 2016 , Sepco chief commercial officer Abdul Hameed Shaikh wrote a letter directing all superintendent engineers to take action against such officials within three days.

A performance review meeting was held at Sepco headquarters in Sukkur on April 18, 2016, during which it was revealed that 92 Sepco employees belonging to Sukkur, Larkana and Dadu, had hired private electricians for performing official work.

The chief executive officer, taking serious notice of this irregularity, had ordered Shaikh to write a letter to all the superintendent engineers, along with the names of the employees and the private electricians hired by them, to ensure drastic action against them.

Acting accordingly, Shaikh wrote a letter on April 29 to all Sepco superintendent engineers. His letter contained names of 92 Sepco employees who had hired 99 private electricians.

According to the breakup, 16 employees had hired 17 private electricians in Sukkur, while 58 employees had hired 63 private electricians in Larkana and 18 employees had hired 19 private electricians in Dadu.

According to the letter, the superintendent engineers were directed to investigate the matter properly and lodge FIRs against the private electricians. The officers were also directed to take disciplinary action against the employees and ensure the security of the Sepco system.

The officers were directed to take necessary action within three days and submit a report, but despite the lapse of nearly five months, no action has been taken against the Sepco employees or the private electricians.

Shaikh told The Express Tribune that he has been transferred and now Latif Anjum holds the post. "I think action was taken against the employees and the private electricians and a report was submitted to the water and power department secretary," said Shaikh, while speaking about his letter. He claimed to be unaware of the fact that officials who had hired private electricians are still working at the same place.

An officer at Sepco headquarters, requesting anonymity, said that all the superintendent engineers failed to take any action against the officials due to the pressure of the labour union.

"Hiring of private electricians by Sepco employees is not a new thing, rather it has remained in practice since long," he said, adding that such electricians not only work for Sepco employees, but also for private customers.

These people are experts at tampering with electricity meters and providing direct connections, he said, adding that the system needs complete overhauling, otherwise writing letters to the subordinate officers will not make any difference.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2016.