Power theft crackdown: Govt recovers Rs46bn in 53 days

November 13, 2023 (MLN): The government's relentless efforts against power theft have yielded remarkable results, with recoveries now surpassing Rs46 billion, Rashid Langrial, Secretary Power Division said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

To note, the anti-power theft campaign was started on September 07, and these results have been collated till October 31.

He emphasized, “We have kept our part of the bargain: have reshuffled, suspended, prosecuted even arrested our own staff at a scale never seen before; put thieves behind the bar at a rate never observed before i.e. roughly 470 persons per day; have shunned extraneous influence with the full support of the Prime Minister, the Minister-in-Charge and other quadrants of state power.”

As the results for the first two months (53 days) are revealed, it is crucial to contextualize the figures, he added.

The estimated annual losses across the national grid for the current year amount to Rs589bn. Out of this, approximately Rs199bn stems from ex-FTA, Baluchistan tube wells, and AJK.

These areas are not the focus of this campaign because of their own peculiarities: AJK collects its own bills but does not pay at the same rate because it sees it as a contractually disputed payment.

Ex-FATA, as they are exempted from meters due to a policy of appeasement in the wake of integration and Baluchistan tube-wells on account of various factors, least of which is not the enforcement challenge. 

“We are working on the remaining problem space of Rs390bn of which we are able to recover Rs46bn in 53 days i.e. Rs867 million per day.   If same level of state support and field effort can be maintained ( and that is a big if, I must admit),  80% of the problem space gets resolved,” he noted.

Forty-six billion in fifty-three days.

We started our anti power theft campaign on 7th of September. Today, results till 31st October have been collated.

That day, we promised that no one will be spared: high or mighty; sacred or not-so-sacred.

We have kept our part of… pic.twitter.com/2hT5i8hyCL

— Rashid Langrial (@Rashidlangrial) November 12, 2023

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