Rs34b recovered, thousands held in anti-power theft drive

According to statistics, 98 people have been arrested from Islamabad this month

ISLAMABAD:

On the government’s initiative, the fruit of effective action against electricity thieves across the country began to emerge.

According to the statistics, from Sept 7 to Oct 31, Rs34 billion has been recovered from across the country and 125,142 people have been arrested.

From Sept 2023 to Oct 2023, losses due to electricity theft decreased by Rs12 billion.

From Nov 1 to Nov 19, 14,769 people have been arrested while Rs36,547 million has been recovered.

More than 1,990 people were arrested from Islamabad and Rs175 million was recovered.

A total of 1,617 people were arrested from Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Multan while Rs1439 million was recovered.

In the crackdown against electricity theft, a total of 121 people were arrested from Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta and Rs5,520 million was recovered.

Read ‘Zero-tolerance policy for electricity theft’

The relevant institutions were determined to continue the crackdown against electricity theft.

The nationwide drive against power theft was initiated earlier this year after the crisis of inflated electricity bills led to protests across the country as people struggled to pay astronomical amounts.

One of the major reasons identified behind the disturbance, among many others, was electricity theft allegedly due to elements in the various agencies involved in the power distribution segment across the country.

According to the Power Division data, electricity theft caused a loss of Rs500 billion to the national exchequer. Moreover, the circular debt had also been a pressing issue plaguing the power grid system for years.

Earlier this month, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar vowed to take strict action against the power theft. “I am glad that the anti-power theft efforts of our Power Division are bearing excellent results.”

He said, “My government will continue to support this campaign with more vigour so that our annual losses can be further minimised.” (With Input from APP)