Daily Times

Sir: I believe power theft is one of the main reasons for load shedding and high electricity charges in Pakistan. The government of PML-N has completely failed to control power theft. The government, though, has disconnected the electricity of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, President’s House, Parliamentary Lodges and some other federal government institutions on account of default. Soon after disconnection, the affected departments paid off their dues and the electricity was restored to their premises. The state and the federal ministers of water and power claimed in a press conference on May 2 that the government has recovered Rs 3.3 billion from government departments while saying that this would cure power theft. I would like to ask the respectable ministers how will this help control power theft? I think it to be an eyewash and an effort to make headlines in the newspapers. The respectable ministers failed to tell the public why did it take the government 11 months to disconnect the electricity of its own government departments. Who will ensure that these departments will not default yet again on their utility bills? The only cure is that just like any household or private entity, the electricity of the concerned government departments is disconnected once the non-payment warning lapses.

The truth is that even if the government brings additional thousands of megawatts of power into the system, load shedding would still exist if power theft is not controlled.

Ejaz Ahmad Magoon

Lahore