Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company has severed 12,010 illegal connections during operations against hook connections in different parts of the province The power utility had arrested 3,692 consumers for power theft, besides collecting million of rupees as fine money during operations started from October 2013 until now. According to data received from the PESCO on Tuesday, a special recovery team comprising officials of the PESCO and the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) along with police had been constituted to pursue cases of power theft in four districts of the province namely Peshawar, Hangu, Nowshera and Tall. Amir Muhammad, an official of the police department said that the power utility removed around 2,000 illegal power connections in 2013, while 151 FIRs were registered against criminals. He said that over Rs two million were collected as fine money. Similarly, in 2014, 1,178 offenders were arrested. A sum of over Rs 4 million was collected while 2,800 hook connections were removed. In 2015, 1,557 FIRs were registered, 3,200 connections were removed, 1,557 power thieves were arrested and an amount of over Rs 7 million was recovered. According to the data, the number of hook connection removed in current year stood at 4,010, while 806 offenders were arrested which led to recovery of over Rs 44 million. Hundred of tampered meters had been confiscated during raids in the above-mentioned districts, added the official.