Finance Minister Asad Umar on Wednesday revealed that a total of 1,351 people were arrested, and 18,795 First Information Reports were registered, as part of a government crackdown against the theft of electricity over the past four months. The minister disclosed the figures on Twitter after reviewing the campaign against electricity theft in a meeting held by the Cabinet Committee on Energy. He said that the transmission and distribution losses between October and December 2018 had reduced to 12.5 percent as compared to 14.1 percent in the same period of the last fiscal. The reduction of losses in the three months resulted in a saving of nearly Rs 5 billion, he noted. Asad Umar said the drive to eliminate electricity theft had an “excellent start”. “Lots more still needs to be done and will be done,” he added. In October 2018, the government had ordered a countrywide crackdown on electricity theft and line losses. The directives had come from Prime Minister Imran Khan who was quoted as saying, “It’s unacceptable to make people pay for the cost of theft and mismanagement of others.” The premier was told that a special task force had already been set up under the Punjab chief minister to combat electricity theft and the deputy coordination officers concerned would monitor the crackdown on power theft at the district level. PM Imran Khan had directed that similar steps also be taken in other provinces on an urgent basis. Published in Daily Times, February 14th 2019.