LAHORE: The Lahore divisional administration has adopted a strict stance against the unauthorized supply of electricity to unapproved housing projects within the city’s subdivisions.
A list of illegal housing schemes should be provided to the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco), according to a recent directive from the administration to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and other pertinent bodies, including defunct local municipal administrations.
Authorities in Lahore demand a list of illegal housing projects for an electricity investigation
The Lesco team, led by the chief engineer, informed the Lahore commissioner that these illegal housing schemes had managed to secure power connections under the guise of operating tube wells and for purposes unrelated to supplying electricity to consumers during a meeting between senior Lesco officials and the commissioner.
We will shortly give you a list of illegal housing developments, said Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa.
You must then look into which schemes were given electricity connections and the justifications given by the responsible officers after getting the list.
Officials from Lesco are responsible for finding these linkages and delivering a thorough report to the divisional administration within two weeks.
The report will make it easier to start the process of cutting off the power to these unauthorized housing developments.
The District Administration and LDA controlled regions will be subject to an audit of electricity connections to unlawful housing societies, it was also decided during the meeting.
Randhawa praised Lesco for improving its standard operating procedures for handling citizen and general consumer concerns. He also asked for a report on certificates of no objection given to illegal organisations.
Additionally, the commissioner reaffirmed that all of the division’s efforts to stop electricity theft would continue.
In the meantime, 11,578 connections implicated in electricity theft have been found by Lesco management in five districts: Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur, and Okara.
The company has reported 11,478 electrical thieves, and 10,505 incidents have been reported to the appropriate police stations. Additionally, 3,484 accused people have been detained.
These energy thieves are accused of stealing approximately Rs1.096 billion in losses totaling 24.250 million detection units.
Lesco’s anti-power theft effort is still active; during the most recent inspection, 588 connections were discovered to be involved in electricity theft, leading to the filing of FIRs against 585 electrical thieves, the registration of 258 FIRs, and the arrest of 122 suspects.
