SSGC removes illegal connections in surprise raids

Faced resistance from mafia running an illegal gas supply network.

KARACHI:

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has said that it has removed 400 illegal gas connections in Mehran Town of Korangi in surprise raids conducted as part of a campaign against gas theft in Sindh and Balochistan.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, SSGC said an anti-theft team of its Customer Relations Department made surprise raids in the area and confiscated thousands of metres of plastic pipes which were being used in unauthorised networks for gas supply.

According to initial investigations, SSGC said, agents of a mafia had directly connected a private supply network to SSGC’s main distribution pipelines and offered illegal connections to the residents by charging Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 each. These people also charged Rs500 from each unregistered consumer on a monthly basis.

The raiding team faced resistance from the mafia agents, who fired gunshots causing damage to a company vehicle.

SSGC said it was in the process of lodging FIRs against the culprits involved in establishing the illegal gas distribution network. “The company is now fully empowered to initiate legal proceedings after introduction of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act in November 2011,” it said.

Under this amendment, some new articles have been introduced, according to which tampering and damaging gas pipelines and installations and stealing or selling gas illegally would be cognisable offences.

Both state-owned transmission and distribution companies – SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) – are empowered to take strict action against miscreants. Courts can impose fines of up to Rs3 million and imprisonment up to 14 years.

Before this operation, SSGC teams had raided different areas of Karachi like KDA Flats (Surjani Town), Labour Square (Landhi), Rehri Goth (Korangi), Memon Goth (Malir), Hasan Phanwar Goth (Korangi), Ibrahim Haideri (Korangi) and Raja Tanveer Colony (Orangi Town) and disconnected hundreds of illegal gas connections.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2012.